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The Impact of Sandusky on Clinicians and Clients

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 in Adolescents and Families, Kids, Trauma

I can only imagine how the Sandusky scandal has impacted your practices. For my clients it has been profoundly triggering. The ongoing reality that children continue to be betrayed and violated while adults look away- minimizing, rationalizing, and denying the unimaginable horrors that someone with power can inflict on innocent lives –has opened healed wounds and caused new ones. My clients get angry all over again, and re-connect with the grief, despair, and helplessness they experienced in childhood. For them, the onslaught of new disclosures and the tepid empathy shown towards the victims reinforces the relentlessness of their own experiences, and the lack of protection and compassion they felt from others whenever they did find the courage to come forward with their trauma narratives.

As clinicians we have a difficult task ahead of us. It is unclear how this story will play out in the media and the courtroom. How vocal and articulate will Sandusky’s supporters be? How much “blaming the victim” will be woven into the story? Will his attorneys attempt to distort the truth, downplaying the seriousness of his offenses or the long-term adverse effects on his victims? Will Sandusky take any responsibility for his actions or be held sufficiently accountable in a court of law? And what will be the short and long-term effects on our clients?

As is often the case, I find myself confronted with the reality that there are many things that happen in this world that are not within our control. And there are some things that are- including the meaning we choose to attach to events, the extent to which we learn and grow from them, and what we do with them once they have occurred.

I encourage my colleagues to use this very difficult event as an opportunity to continue educating both clients and the community at large about the dynamics of abuse and victimization. Focus on the innocence of children and the need to proactively protect them from predators. Let it be known that “looking the other way” makes you an accessory, and is an unacceptable and unconscionable response. Challenge the media when they use the word “relationship” to describe “rape.” Empower survivors of sexual abuse to find the courage to share their experiences, ending generational cycles of secrecy and denial. Educate anyone who downplays the severity of what was done to these children. Keep the discussion alive- it not only validates experiences, it gives survivors a voice and communicates to them that we care, deeply, about their pain and believe, deeply, in their capacity to transcend it and heal.