Prevention is the key!
Many sexually assaultive individuals are themselves victims of dysfunctional families. The member(s) of the family they have interaction with may be former a victim themselves and then the cycle of inappropriate behaviors such as sexual, verbal and physical abuse can continue.
Unfortunately the home is not always the best place for a child to learn the tools needed because of adult family member(s) who may be perpetuating the cycle of abuse on or around their own children. Verbal abuse can be as detrimental to a young child’s mental health as sexual or physical abuse and can lead to high risk behaviors later in life!
The real key to prevention is stopping the cycle of abuse by identifying high risk individuals at an early age and helping them learn the tools of prevention through therapy or counseling.
Therapy is an extremely helpful tool for assisting those at high risk of offending later in life. Family therapy can help people who want to stop the cycle of abuse from continuing on to future generations.
In our culture there’s been a stigma attached that if an individual/family seeks therapy they’re somehow weak or damaged. We must help change this attitude and advocate therapy as an effective tool for crime prevention. If you know someone in therapy, give them encouragement and let them know you’re proud of all their effort.
We all can help ourselves and our communities by being advocates for therapy. Making therapy more affordable and available to the masses is a good start.