Article: At times, you may find your feelings of hurt and shame too difficult to handle on your own. A therapist can help you understand your feelings better and work with you to develop strategies for managing them. Ask your primary care doctor to recommend a mental health professional who has experience helping child abuse survivors.  Look for a therapist who has experience working with trauma survivors. You might use "trauma-informed" as a search term when looking for your therapist. You might also look for a certification, special training, or past experience listed on their profile. Going to a therapist who isn't trained well can harm rather than help you. If you are a student, your school may offer free mental health services or have resources for helping you connect with a counselor. If you are still a minor and are not sure how to get in touch with a therapist, reach out to a trusted adult, such as a teacher or a sympathetic relative, for help setting up an appointment. You may need to meet with a few different therapists before you find one who works well with you. Don’t give up if the first therapist you try doesn’t feel like a good fit. for child abuse survivors. Ask your doctor or therapist to recommend a group for people who share experiences similar to yours. Talking with other survivors can help you feel less isolated and may lead to meaningful connections and friendships. Members of your support group may also be able to help you discover new ways to cope with shame and other negative feelings related to your past abuse.  You can also do a search online for support groups and organizations devoted to helping child abuse survivors. Organizations like Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (http://www.ascasupport.org/) and Help for Adult Victims of Child Abuse (https://www.havoca.org/) can help you connect with groups and resources in your area. Additionally, many communities have sexual assault and rape crisis centers which provide individual counseling sessions or group counseling sessions to survivors. Make time to be with friends, loved ones, and acquaintances who are respectful, compassionate, and sympathetic. Compassion from both yourself and others is key to overcoming feelings of shame. As much as you can, avoid spending time with people who put you down, belittle you, or refuse to respect your boundaries. If you are still a minor in an abusive situation, let someone know. This could be a sympathetic relative, the parent of a close friend, a teacher or mentor, or an authority figure, such as a police officer or social worker. As frightening as this may be, it’s important that you get help. No one deserves to be abused, and no one should have to face abuse alone.  If someone is hurting you or threatening to hurt you, call emergency services or ask a trusted adult to do it for you as soon as you can safely do so. If you want advice but are scared to report the person abusing you, call a youth crisis line. Some services, like TEEN LINE (https://teenlineonline.org/talk-now/), allow you to chat anonymously over the phone, online, or through text messaging.

What is a summary?
Meet with a professional therapist. Join a support group Spend time with supportive friends and family. Reach out to a trusted adult for help if someone is still abusing you.