Sexual Assault

REPORT DATE RAPE/sEXUAL ASSAULT & ABUSE TO 911
For Advocacy & Support Call
Teresa Swope
Victim, Survivor Advocate
360-297-6304 OR 360-621-0090

Some Things to Consider if You are Raped

Try to preserve evidence. Do not bathe, shower or douche. Save all clothing and items involved. In the case it is someone you do not know try to write down as much as you can about the assailant. Seek medical attention to check for injuries and test for sexually transmitted
infections. Sexual Assault Nurse Exam (S.A.N.E.) is available at Bremerton Harrison Hospital and is free.

Survivors/victims of sexual assault have the right to have an advocate accompany them through medical, legal, police, prosecutor and court proceedings or interviews.

Why Sexual Assault Victims Need Further Help

For all people, coming to terms with sexual abuse can be a turning point in your life. This can mean talking with counselors, attending support
groups, and talking with trusted persons in your life who can give support helping you to make decisions about family and cultural taboos that forbid speaking of personal matters. It also may mean coming to terms with unresolved grief that has made your life unmanageable.

Old coping mechanisms may have included escaping, physically running away or mentally getting outside of your body. Drugs and alcohol may have you helped you temporarily escape. Food may also be an issue; overeating, anorexia and/or bulimia. These may still plague you, and you may need special counseling. Some may become angry, hostile, rebellious, anxious. Still others repress their feelings altogether preventing themselves from responding emotionally to the abuse or other things around them.

Protect Yourself Against Date Rape

For many people dating is on of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. But for some, dates end in disaster. They are sexually assaulted by their date.

The best defense against date rape is your own instincts. If you get a funny feeling about a person or situation, get to a safe place as soon as possible. The use of drugs and/or alcohol may impair your ability to protest yourself.

When dating someone new it is best to go out in a group the first few times. Paying half the cost of the date will prevent the idea that you “owe” anything. Dating is not a buisness deal/ transaction.

If your date acts jealous when you talk to others, even friends; pressures you to use drugs or alcohol; does not listen to what you want to do; controls your body in small ways by holding you too tight, pulls you around by the hand, ignores when you pull away; become angry easily or violent for any reason you are in an abusive relationship.

It’s Never Too Late to Tell a Secret

When the trauma does catch up, and you begin to remember what happened, it’s not unusual to feel afraid and to re-experience the pain you knew in childhood. In this time, you will know that you have begun the first step towards recovery. It’s important to have people around to talk to and be with a trusted friend, a rape crises advocate or others. You can also take comfort in knowing that thousands of other survivors have begun to recover from the trauma of sexual abuse.

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