Resources

Push Back the Dark contains two chapters of resources, and this website can only highlight a limited number.

Digital resources:

Here are links to sites that themselves contain additional resources along with a brief description of each site.

Rape, Abuse and Incest International Network (www.rainn.org)

RAINN is the largest online organization for sexual assault survivors offering information and resources on state laws, template policies, help for family members, news reporting, and community connections.

Stop It Now (www.stopitnow.org)

Stop It Now was founded to prevent sexual abuse of children. The website frames abuse as a preventable public health problem to reduce stigma among survivors and increase prevention efforts. There is a separate section for faith communities that outlines safety planning and prevention.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (www.snapnetwork.org)

While organized to support survivors of abuse by clergy, SNAP has a global presence and a wide outreach to all types of sexual abuse victims.

Mending the Soul Ministries (www.mendingthesoul.org)

Mending the Soul was established to train church leaders to restore the faith and health of victims and rebuild community. A specific training model is grounded in both theology and psychology.

Southern Baptist Conference (www.sbc.net/churchresources/sexabuseprevention.asp)

The Southern Baptist Conference was among the first denominations to acknowledge and respond to problems of childhood sexual abuse, including offenses by persons within the church. The site presents extensive resources on training leaders, prevention, and balancing defense against and ministry to sex offenders.

What is trauma-informed treatment?

Trauma-informed treatment is any treatment designed to create an environment in which clients' needs in every domain are recognized and responded to with respect and hopefulness. This context stands in contrast to interventions designed to ‘treat’ the symptoms and after effects of trauma, but focus on one symptom such as depression or insomnia.

The best parallel is to think of a patient arriving at a hospital emergency room with a single symptom, however serious: a broken leg, a heart attack, or a major infection. Care givers will focus on the resolution of that symptom, as well as any additional problems that result from it. So caring for a broken leg might require surgery, physical therapy for rehabilitation, and follow up visits for monitoring recovery of functional abilities such as walking and climbing stairs. If a patient is taken to the ER after a major car accident, however, multiple types of caregivers are involved. The accident likely affected many bodily systems, including brain function and vision problems because of concussion, skin infection because of glass damage, ligament and bone sprains or breaks, cardiac complications due to oxygen shortage, and so on.