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Detection, Referrals and Treatment
– for Adults
Misinformation and misdirection by the counseling and medical
communities about the impact of CSA trauma and the need for
specialized intervention pose real threats to adult survivors’ ability
to recover and therefore greatly impacts their long-term health.
It is essential that healthcare providers adopt trauma-informed
care practices to screen for a history of childhood sexual abuse and
that proper referrals are offered to patients who need them.
Many adults, and many healthcare providers upon whom adults
rely for care, do not know these intervention services exist – or that,
as victims of the crime of childhood sexual abuse – adult survivors
of CSA have rights to those specialized services.
As healthcare providers, we have a responsibility to inform
patients of the ways their health may be harmed by unresolved
CSA trauma, and we have the responsibility to honor the rights of
these patients and refer them for appropriate resources designed
to help them heal.
Kentucky Association of Sexual
Assault Programs
In Kentucky, referrals for adults needing services for having been
sexually abused as children can be made through the Kentucky
Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP.org), which
consists of thirteen centers statewide designed to provide the proper
intervention for adults who have experienced sexual violence.
In Kentucky, using 2012 population estimates, there are
approximately 422,000 females and 281,000 males who experienced
CSA trauma13. Because society in general, as well as the medical
community, has not focused significantly on CSA trauma as a
major health risk factor, it is fair to assume that the vast majority
of these individuals living with CSA trauma have not received the
services they need.
The cost to their lives and health is astronomical; the cost to
our society and state is incredibly high, as well. It is estimated that
childhood sexual abuse costs the U.S. $35 billion annually.14
Breaking Down Stereotypes and
Improving Access to Services for All
Involved
Indeed, as health practitioners and community members alike, we
must honestly examine the c