Lorraine, a mother of four – three boys and a girl – found herself and her family in an almost incomprehensible situation. To her horror, she learned that her father had been molesting his own granddaughter.
She had noticed her daughter behaving strangely. Finally, the girl told her mother that the grandfather had been abusing her for several months, including twice in that very same evening. Lorraine confronted her father immediately, but he denied the truth of the little girl’s story.
At first, Lorraine was so shaken that she didn’t know what to do, but after a week she began seeking professional help. Online research, and the glowing testimonials she found, led her to an LSS therapist. In fact, when Lorraine contacted Child Protective Services they suggested the very same therapist, themselves.
After some time in therapy, Lorraine and her daughter both began to look forward to their weekly group sessions. Both mother and daughter feel supported by their peers, Lorraine by the other parents as they worked together to untangle the devastating effects of sexual abuse on their children. Her daughter was in a safe environment with other children, where they expressed their feelings and started their recovery from excruciating physical, emotional and psychological trauma.
Lorraine and her daughter began participating in group therapy with other parents and their victimized children in November 2018. Lorraine was amazed at how quickly everyone became open with each other, and shared freely after such a short time.
To this day it is still hard for her to accept that her own father could have violated her child this way. Then, as if the family had not experienced enough, their home was burglarized at Christmastime.
Members of the Lutheran church, where the group sessions were held, responded by ensuring that every family in the program had food and gifts for the holiday. Despite the heartaches and hardship that bind the group together, every family was able to celebrate the season just like everyone else, and their journey to new, healthy and safe family dynamics and relationships was made a little bit easier.
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