RAPE and sexual assault is a crime that plagues women in India each hour. It is reported that a woman is raped in India every 16 minutes. With parts of the country still outraged over the rape and murder of the female doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, there are fierce debates about strengthening laws, tightening law enforcement and making public places safer for women across India. But amidst these demands, which must take place, the question still remains – what about the victim?
This question becomes even more important when the victim of rape and sexual assault is a child. Children are unable to process deliberate harm done to them the way adults do because we teach children that adults are meant to protect them. From helping them cross the street to making their meals, the trust between an adult and a child is a natural one and breaking that trust causes a cascade of mental issues that shock children and forces them into a state of panic, fear and despair.
For children who are survivors of rape and sexual assault, tending to their immediate needs is of prime importance. This includes safe shelter, nutritious food, personal space and trauma counseling which, in time, allows them to be a child again. Inchara Foundation is a Mangalore-based NGO that shelters and rehabilitates child victims of rape. Founded in 2014, Inchara Foundation was born as a result of the suffering of children who have been sexually abused and left to face the cruelty of their circumstances alone. The team that runs Inchara Foundation has earned advanced degrees and specialized training in in Social Work, Psychology, Psychiatry and have decades of experience working with child victims of sexual abuse. The goal of the organization is to rehabilitate the children and transform their lives to overcome their trauma and have the childhoods and futures they deserve.
Trauma counseling for child rape victims
Trauma counseling is one of the most important aspects of transforming the life of a child who is a victim of sexual assault. Inchara Foundation provides a safe space for children to take their time, approach the trained psychologist when she wants to and speak her mind in a safe space that does not judge the child or make her feel uncomfortable. Athena Aranha is a former Assistant Professor of Psychology and a part of the Inchara Foundation team. She shares her experience counseling a child victim of gang rape. Ananya* is a child who was raped multiple times by five men. Ananya wanted help, but didn’t know how to ask for help. The child would come to the counseling room, sit beside the door and cry for hours and hours without saying a word. This went on for months until she was ready to come forward into the counseling room and talk to Athena about what happened to her.
Athena Aranha shares that “there can be a lot of cases where the symptoms don’t manifest. But inside, the child may be dying.” Offering trauma counseling is important because the child isn’t just told to sleep, eat, study and get on with their lives. Trauma counselors take their time to work through the child’s problems until the child is ready to move forward and begin rebuilding their lives with help from the organization. In Ananya’s case, she slowly started expressing an interest in her studies and in two years she was enrolled in college and is earning her undergraduate degree. There was a complete transformation in Ananya and it all started with the mental and emotional healing brought on by trauma counseling.
Trauma counseling and therapies
The counselors at Inchara Foundation use multiple therapies to help children express their feelings, fears and anger and then chart a course for the future through various therapies. This includes art therapy, which Hema* used to narrate the crime that had happened to her. For a long time, the counselors knew that something happened to Hema but did not know the extent of her trauma. Diana Pinto is one of the counselors who started art therapy with Hema. In the course of time, Hema began drawing a forest and a well next to the forest. The counselors allowed Hema to continue drawing and when Hema appeared willing to speak, the child explained that she had been raped in a forest and her clothes were thrown into the well. In this case, art therapy helped a child express herself and helped the counselors understand how to best help her heal from her horrific ordeal.
Athena Aranha explains that “children don’t have the vocabulary to express what has happened to them. That is why we make use of various therapies, such as art or dance, where children can talk about the abuse without verbally saying it.” This is how Hema was able to talk about what happened to her and begin her process of healing.
Trauma counseling to battle suicidal thoughts
The children at Inchara Foundation who are victims of rape and sexual assault often battle suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Having attempted suicide many times, many children give up on life and constantly say “I don’t want to live”, “I don’t want to survive”, “I have been raped”, “I have no value anymore” or “I will never be the same again.”
Inchara Foundation’s aim is to give the children the reassurance that the counselors will be there for them and give them the time and the space they need to work through their problems, which are different for each individual child. The counselors share that “because the children come from backgrounds where they don’t really have anybody to support them, we give them the assurance that I am there for you. No matter what happens, I am there for you.” That is what Inchara Foundation tries to build with their counseling techniques.
While the children are being counseled, they receive safe shelter, nutritious meals, education, skills training, recreational activities and the chance to build futures that are dignified. This serves to help the children to not be restricted to the horrors of their past but be free to create futures of their own will and choosing.
Help Inchara Foundation’s trauma counselors
The trauma that a child undergoes when a crime as horrific as rape and sexual assault happens to them requires time, patience, space and trained professionals to overcome. Inchara Foundation’s professional counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists have designed and implemented programs and therapies to help each individual girl overcome the trauma of the crime committed against her and rebuild her life with her head held high.
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Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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