Sadly, this is true: Now that I have a kid, I’ve noticed that most parents think like this. They believe children are safe only when they are in the care of adults, in part because kids have to be protected from would-be pedophiles and abductors. But as a psychologist with an expertise in child abuse,…
‘It’s time we all get out from the idea that child molesters are socially awkward and weird. The kind of people we are suspicious of at first sight. It simply isn’t true. For someone to be able to perpetrate that much hurt, to so many children, and over such a long period of time, you…
Surviving childhood abuse takes strength, there’s no question that you are strong, but how that strength plays out, and what limits there are to that strength are anyone’s guess. Survivors are all individuals, some will struggle with certain things, others with completely different things. None of that makes you stronger or weaker.We are all just…
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and I thought it would be worthwhile to review the scope of the problem we are trying to prevent. Child physical abuse exists in all corners of the country and affects children of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic groups. Check the statistics. Child abuse happens everywhere, it’s not…
This is something we don’t take seriously enough. We seem to do the opposite, admiring the parents who are overstressed, overworked, over-everything, instead of the ones who take care of themselves. All this month in our HRI blogs, we’re looking at protective factors against child abuse. At first glance, it may seem counter-intuitive that self-care…
Unfortunately, many survivors do not get the result they were hoping for when they disclose their abuse to their closest friends and family, because the person on the other end of the conversation simply doesn’t know how to react. Here’s a few clues that might help you the next time: When a survivor opens up…
