According to Claire van Ogtrop, a counselor at the Mississippi State University Counseling Center, one out of every four girls and one out of every six boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18, a statistic which has increased by over 80 percent since it was last studied. In consideration of this fact, as well as their past casework experience, van Ogtrop and a fellow counselor, Julia Shcherbakova, are establishing a Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors Group for MSU students.
According to Shcherbakova, group therapy is the treatment of choice in traumatic cases such as childhood sexual abuse. “Group curatives help members overcome their sense of shame and isolation, and often witnessing one another’s emotions helps individual group members deal with and better understand their own,” said Shcherbakova.
“A group setting can help the members overcome any sense of responsibility that they may feel toward their abuse, and it gives them a safety net of support to fall back on,” she said.
However, beyond its use as a therapeutic tool, group work allows survivors to develop crucial social skills as well.
“Because victims of abuse so often suffer from difficulty in trusting others, membership in a group like this allows them to cultivate their social skills and helps them learn how to effectively relate to others,” said van Ogtrop.
“I think this program is a great idea. Research shows that survivors of sexual abuse benefit the most from early intervention and counseling,” Nancy Tutor, a senior majoring in Educational Psychology, said. “This group will offer them both of those as well as a much needed outlet to express their emotions and the difficulties that they are coming across in their lives and their relationships”
Within group sessions, potential participants will not only share the emotions and problems that they face because of their past experiences but can also expect van Ogtrop and Shcherbakova to educate them on common attributes of childhood sexual abuse, its aftereffects, and its associative problems.
“Sexual abuse affects the victim’s personal life in many ways, sometimes in ways that they will not automatically relate back to the experience itself,” said Shcherbakova. “To them, their abuse may seem far removed from the problems that they may have in functioning-such as difficulties in relating to people or specific people. The connection between abuse and these problems is sometimes difficult for survivors to make. Through groups like this, it is hoped that they may come to better understand themselves and their reactions.”
“The key word,” van Ogtrop said. “In cases like this is sometimes. There are no absolutes regarding how someone will respond to childhood abuse, it is different for everyone. While some individuals may be more resilient, others may face problems long after the abuse itself occurs. That is not saying that these people are not resilient -they have survived, and to have made it this far and to be functioning as a college student says a
great deal about their inner strength, regardless.”
Potential members will have to undergo a mandatory screening in an effort to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the survivors’ group.
Although screenings are a standard measure in creating groups of this type, van Ogtrop and Shcherbakova say that this screening will likely last a little longer than is standard because of the personal, private, and often shameful emotions that childhood sexual abuse often brings up.
Still, Shcherbakova said that they will not delude potential participant into believing that their confidentiality is sacrosanct. Although both counselors would never allow what passes in the group to leak out, it will be next to impossible for them to control the actions of all the group members.
“I…we…both feel that it is going to be important to be honest with the survivors that elect to join the group. As much as we would like to protect them, we may not be able to do so. All we can do is encourage the group to preserve each other’s trust – otherwise, it will have to be a conscious decision and a certain risk that each survivor will have to make,” van Ogtrop said.
Van Ogtrop concurs that there is little that the facilitators can do other than the screening and personal encouragement on their part to maintain confidentiality. However, she adds that in-group sessions, for her, it is a matter of asking each member to remember to consider one another.
“Confidentiality in a group like this is a matter of the respect that they accord one another, a question of how they would feel if someone else made their personal life everyone else’s business,” said van Ogtrop.
A free service to all female students enrolled at MSU, potential members should call the counseling center at 325-2091 to set up an appointment for screening. According to van Ogtrop, “Because these sessions bring up such emotionally charged issues and therefore are likely to become very tense, we are asking that potential group members have some counseling experience
behind them, either in an individual or a group setting, so that they have a sense of how charged the atmosphere is likely to become.”
Still, for all of that, Van Ogtrop and Shcherbakova have a lot of respect for the survivors. “We know that survivors struggle with trust, low self-esteem, and unpleasant emotions such as anger, shame, guilt, or even depression. Groups can help survivors know that they are not alone in this,” she said.
However, we know that taking that first step and bringing something out in the open like this is scary-it takes a lot of courage to make that phone call, and we respect that!” said van Ogtrop.
“If the Counseling Center finds that there is a sufficient need on campus for a group of this nature, then I believe that this could be a very beneficial opportunity for all the potential women who want to get involved,” Jasmine Robinson, senior, said.
Counselors Claire van Ogtrop and Julia Shcherbakova each have a respectable history in the counseling service. Originally from the east coast, van Ogtrop is a licensed clinical social worker and has worked with a variety of trauma victims, from those suffering sexual abuse to women involved in abusive relationships, throughout her six to seven years of counseling. Shcherbakova hails from Russia and has both a masters and doctorate degree in Counselor Education.
She has been a counselor for the past three years and has worked on a variety of cases including those involving childhood sexual abuse.