Sexual Trauma Recovery
Sexual Trauma Recovery
Therapy for Moms in Canal Fulton, Ohio & Across Ohio & Pennsylvania (Telehealth)
It’s estimated that 1 in 4 girls in the US are sexually abused before the age of 18, likely closer to 1 in 3 worldwide. That stat really guts me. 1 in 3-4. How can this happen to 25-33% of girls? The stats for boys are about 1 in 6 in the US and 1 in 5 worldwide. What blows my mind is how common this experience can be and how little we hear about it. Now, of course, I get the privacy around it, and honoring anyone’s desire to disclose or not is paramount to helping people claim their voice, choice and agency, which is so important in recovery from trauma in general and especially sexual trauma.
As a therapist specializing in sexual trauma recovery, EMDR therapy, postpartum anxiety therapy, and religious trauma therapy in Ohio, I see how often childhood sexual abuse quietly shapes adult anxiety, romantic dynamics, parenting stress, and a woman’s relationship to her body.
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Confusion
Childhood sexual abuse seems to have this element, at times, entangled with it, that involves confusion and doubt about the occurrence, “Did it really happen? Am I remembering it correctly?” I can personally relate to this experience and it took “believing the little one in me” to find a path towards recovery. I want to shout, that if you are experiencing symptoms related to childhood sexual abuse, there are ways to shift how much it impacts your daily life.
That confusion is not weakness. It is often part of how a child survives; cutting off from the experience, disassociating, to not physically or emotionally feel the pain.
Childhood Sexual Abuse Triggers
Let’s talk about childhood sexual abuse triggers. They are reminders of the past abuse that cause a reaction today - they can be unconscious or conscious as they occur.
Many women seeking postpartum anxiety therapy or EMDR therapy are actually responding to unprocessed triggers.
Touch
This comes up in my work frequently. A certain touch from a partner brings up past abuse and causes my client to react defensively or shut down in order to protect the younger part of themselves who feels threatened. It may not be a touch from a partner, but instead, people getting too close or invading your own space or seeing someone touch your kid in a friendly manner.
Sounds
This was a big one for me and one I never knew if it could actually change for me. Not always in our relationship, but consistently since motherhood, my spouse’s breathing at night, would trigger my childhood sexual abuse experiences, to the point where we could not sleep next to one another anymore. I was so fixated on my body’s reactions and sensations that I could not sleep, even though logically I knew I was completely safe. It still stuns me to be able to type this, but this does not occur anymore and we happily are able to sleep in the same bed now. Someone’s voice, a song, the creak in the stairs, a moaning noise, hearing a certain scripture can all cue childhood sexual abuse memories.
Smells
A certain cologne, a smell of a candle, the scent of a room. I’ve heard scent is our most powerful sense that can evoke memory so this could be a big one for you. Sometimes it may be the smell of a certain lotion, and it could even be the case that the smell is in your therapist’s office. If so, this is a helpful dialogue to have with your therapist, to help your therapist understand you and work to create safety and growth, whether that’s practicing exposure to the scent or removing for safety.
The Connection Between Sexual Trauma and Spiritual Trauma
To highlight connections to spiritual trauma, in systems that perpetuate patriarchy, they can lend a hand in also creating contexts where sexual abuse and assault are more likely to occur. If a girl can’t trust her body, say no, has to see the man as spiritual authority, is taught to see her body as bad, or just for a man’s pleasure or recreation; how can these dynamics not play a role in creating more space to take away a female’s autonomy over her own body?
For many women of faith, sexual trauma recovery also includes healing distorted theology about submission, purity culture, male authority, desire, shame, obedience, and silence. This is where spiritual trauma recovery becomes part of sexual trauma therapy. We don’t just process the event. We examine the system that made it harder to say no.
The First Stage of Healing: Safety
I remember as I first started disclosing my childhood sexual abuse to my therapist, she stated clearly, “I’ve worked with sexual abuse before,” and this helped give me a sense of confidence in her ability to hold my experiences. Our relationship and safety was building, session after session, as she collaborated with me on goals, treatment planning and what I wanted or needed to focus on that session.
This is the first phase of healing, according to trauma expert and psychiatrist Judith Herman, creating safety. Safety in the relationship, the room, in our connection to ourselves and body. This is incredibly important in the therapeutic process, the sense of safety with our clinician. This may not be felt in the first session and may develop over time. It may not develop over time or there may be moments that feel like threats or danger, and these can either be cues to process together in therapy or red flags letting you know it’s time to try another provider.
For example, if a therapist verbalizes the significance of your willingness to try something new and this feels uncomfortable for you, it may not be a sign that this isn’t a good fit, but instead, an opportunity to learn and feel what comes up for you when someone notices something about you. However, if a therapist is pressuring you to try something new, this is a different experience that may indicate your therapist is not meeting you where you are and creating space for your preferences, preferred pace and voice.
If you are seeking trauma therapy for moms in Canal Fulton, Ohio or via telehealth across Ohio, this stage matters more than any modality.
The Second Stage: Reprocessing the Trauma Narrative
Ok, so once there’s a good foundation of safety, the second stage according to Herman, is reprocessing the experience or narrative. This can be done many different ways. Of course, through EMDR, IFS, or other therapy models like AEDP, support groups, psychedelic medicine.
When I started reprocessing with my therapist, the safety we created allowed me to explore things I was unsure of factually, but that were appearing for me in EMDR reprocessing. It gave me courage in saying words aloud, sexual terms, I felt discomfort around. Because of this, I was able to reprocess experiences that were still triggering me at the time.
Reprocessing allows the nervous system to learn: this happened, and I am safe now.
The Third Stage: Reconnection
Judith Herman’s third stage of trauma recovery is reconnection. After safety is built and the trauma has been reprocessed, healing shifts toward living again, not just surviving.
Reconnection includes:
Reclaiming sexuality on your terms
Rebuilding trust in relationships
Redefining faith or spiritual identity
Exploring desire, purpose, and voice
Reconnection does not erase the trauma. It integrates it into your story without it running your life. For many women, especially overwhelmed moms , this is the stage where they begin to feel not just relief, but aliveness.
I could see some of this happen for me in my own treatment as I started to put myself out there to make new friends, express more of my sexual desires and have heart to heart conversations with family members about the harm.
Important Parts of Recovery
Believing Younger Self
Believing younger self means validating the sensations, emotions, fragments, and confusion that arise. It means choosing to trust the child who had no power, instead of gaslighting her with adult logic.
Practicing Saying No
Recovery includes rebuilding the muscle of “no.” Starting small helps your nervous system learn that boundaries do not equal danger.
Having Choice and a Voice
Trauma removes choice. Healing restores it. A trauma-informed therapist consistently gives you options and respects your pace.
Creating Ability to Fight for Self or Flee
Many survivors default to freeze or fawn. Recovery includes safely accessing fight and flight energy — assertiveness, protective imagery, somatic work, and boundary practice.
Relationship to Body
Sexual trauma often fractures the relationship to the body. Healing involves relearning internal cues, reclaiming pleasure without shame, and feeling at home in your skin again.
Sexual Trauma Therapy in Canal Fulton, Ohio & Across Ohio
If you are an overwhelmed mom in Northeast Ohio carrying childhood sexual abuse, spiritual trauma, postpartum anxiety, or body shame — you are not broken.
There are ways to reduce triggers.
There are ways to sleep again.
There are ways to feel safe in your own body.
I offer EMDR therapy for moms, religious trauma therapy, and sexual trauma recovery therapy in Canal Fulton, Ohio and via telehealth throughout Ohio.
You do not have to do this alone.