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Resource Books
for Practitioners
This collection is intended for professionals working with children, youth, and families affected by abuse. The books offer practical advice on trauma-informed care, creating safe spaces, supporting survivors, and working with high-risk or clinical populations.
The book list in this category was compiled by Natalia Tukhareli MLIS, PhD, the Founder and Executive Director of the Read to Connect organization.
Trauma Myth: The Truth about the Sexual Abuse of Children and Its Aftermath
New York: Basic Books, 2011. Clancy, Susan A.
Drawing on the latest research on memory and traumatic experience, Susan Clancy, an expert in experimental psychopathology, demonstrates that children describe abuse and molestation encounters in ways that don’t fit the conventional trauma model. In fact, the most common feeling reported is not fear but confusion. Clancy calls for an honest look at sexual abuse and its aftermath, and argues that the reactions of society and the healing professions – however well-meaning – actually shackle the victims of abuse in chains of guilt, secrecy, and shame. Pathbreaking and controversial, The Trauma Myth radically reshapes our understanding of sexual abuse and its consequences.
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Creating a Safe Place: Helping Children and Families Recover from Child Sexual Abuse
NCH Children and Families Project. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2008.
The book demonstrates how therapeutic services can be improved through feedback from service users and how creative activities, such as storytelling, painting, and drama, can encourage the expression of experiences. The need for preventative work is also addressed. Of particular relevance to professionals is the exploration of some of the difficulties that may be encountered in this field of work, such as the tension that can arise between therapeutic work and the child protection system.
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Interviewing Children about Sexual Abuse: Controversies and Best Practices
Oxford University Press, 2007. Coulborn Faller, Kathleen.
The only up-to-date resource of its kind, the book covers the entire interview process, showing professionals how to structure, document, and follow up on children’s responses in interviews; work with very young children, have special needs, or come from diverse backgrounds; use standardized tests and measures; formulate conclusions about sexual abuse; and defend those decisions in a courtroom or clinical setting.
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Home Truths About Child Sexual Abuse: Policy and Practice
Routledge, 2000. Itzin, Catherine
This book brings together the findings of research and clinical work by leading figures in the UK and the USA. It makes visible the prevalence of sexual abuse and exploitation of children by normal, ordinary, heterosexual family men, both within and outside the family. Comprehensive and multidisciplinary in approach, it covers the many different aspects of child sexual abuse.
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Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power and Organizational Culture
Oxford University Press, 2011. Keenan, Marie.
A meticulously researched inside look at child sexual abuse by clergy, this exhaustive, hard-hitting analysis weaves together interviews with abusive priests and church historical and administrative details to propose a new way of thinking about clerical sexual offenders. Linking the personal and the institutional, researcher and therapist Marie Keenan locates the problem of child sexual abuse not exclusively in individual pathology, but also within larger systemic factors, such as the very institution of priesthood itself, the Catholic take on sexuality, clerical culture, power relations, governance structures of the Catholic Church, the process of formation for priesthood and religious life, and the complex manner in which these factors coalesce to create serious institutional risks for boundary violations, including child sexual abuse.
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From Child Sexual Abuse to Adult Sexual Risk: Trauma Revictimization and Intervention
American Psychological Association, 2003. Koenig, Linda J., Linda S. Doll, Ann O’Leary and Willo Pequegnat (Eds.).
The book examines the effect of child sexual abuse (CSA) on adult sexual health outcomes in men and women. It identifies the theory and research-based cognitive, affective, social, and behavioural consequences of trauma influencing sexual risk behaviour in adulthood.
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Child Abuse and Neglect
Psychology Press, 2009. McCoy, Monica L. and Stefanie M. Keen.
The book opens with a background on child maltreatment, including its history, an overview of the research, and the risk factors. Details about mandated reporting are also explored. Different forms of maltreatment – physical abuse, neglect, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, fetal abuse, and Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome – are then examined. Incidence estimates and consequences for each type of maltreatment are provided. Legal issues, including forensic interviewing, are then reviewed. The book concludes with an example of what happens to a child after a report is filed, along with suggestions for preventing child maltreatment.
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Finding Sunshine after the Storm: A Workbook for Children Healing from Sexual Abuse
New Harbinger, 2008. McGee, Sharon.
This professional edition includes both the Instant Help book and a companion CD that offers the complete book, as well as printable worksheets for your clients. It is a workbook for children who have experienced sexual abuse, including forty activities drawn from play therapy that kids can do to learn to manage anger, establish safe boundaries, identify adults they can trust, and build their self-esteem.
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Creative Group Therapy for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000. Meekums, Bonnie.
This book is divided into two parts: the first looking at theoretical issues exploring the nature of abuse and patterns of recovery, and including a consideration of the debate about “false memory syndrome”. The second part of the book presents practical group strategies, detailing a whole sequence of creative exercises for the sessions. The author outlines how to set up the group, establish it, and manage its endings.
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Pedophilia and Sexual Offending Against Children: Theory, Assessment, and Intervention
American Psychological Association, 2007. Seto, Michael C.
In this book, author Michael C. Seto addresses key concerns and questions in dealing with these clinical populations: How can pedophilia be detected? What causes pedophilia and sexual offending against children, and what is the relationship between the two? How do we assess the risk of sexually offending? Finally, what do we know about interventions and prevention to reduce the occurrence of sexual offences against children? In addition to a comprehensive synthesis of theory and research, the author demonstrates how this knowledge informs current treatment practices with the inclusion of illustrative case examples, sample interview questions, assessment tools, and online resources.
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Shattering the Illusion: Child Sexual Abuse and Canadian Religious Institutions
Tracy J Trothen
Shattering the Illusion is the first book to gather and comparatively analyze policies addressing child sexual abuse complaints in a selection of religious institutions in Canada. Although there is a substantial body of literature regarding Christianity and sexual abuse, very little of it focuses on religious institutions in Canada and their respective policies.
In the foreword, Tracey J. Trothen summarizes the Cornwall Inquiry, out of which this book arose. She then examines the Roman Catholic Church, the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church, the Mennonite Church, Islam, and the Canadian Unitarian Council/Unitarian Universalist Association, describing in detail the evolution and particular content of policies and procedures that address child sexual abuse complaints directed at paid and volunteer faith community representatives and/ or leaders. She identifies differences and common themes among the approaches taken by the institutions and provides a summary table for an accessible comparative overview. Click on the image to buy from Amazon.ca
Talking About Sexual Assault: Society’s Response to Survivors
American Psychological Association, 2010. Ullman, Sarah E.
This book provides a comprehensive look at women’s rape disclosure, addressing such issues as why, how often, and to whom women disclose their sexual assault; how people respond to disclosures; what factors influence how they respond to disclosures; and how these responses affect survivors. Recommendations for research, treatment, and intervention are provided.
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Abused Women & Survivor Therapy: A Practical Guide for the Psychotherapist
Abused Women & Survivor Therapy: A Practical Guide for the Psychotherapist.
The book discusses the significant forms of abuse experienced by women: rape and sexual assault, battering, sexual abuse by therapists, and discrimination/sexual harassment in the workplace. It helps the newly trained as well as the experienced practitioner to identify, assess, and treat women who have been abused physically, sexually, or psychologically.
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Out of Harm’s Way: A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Young Children from Sexual Abuse
Seattle, WA: Parenting Press, Inc., 2010. Wurtele, Sandy K.
Out of Harm’s Way, a concise overview by a psychologist who studies child sexual abuse, skips the scare tactics and provides realistic recommendations for parents and caregivers. Wurtele, who heads the undergraduate psychology program at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, explains that creepy-looking strangers are not the most likely molesters. Using information from predators that she interviewed, Wurtele spells out what behaviour to watch for among friends, relatives, coaches, teachers and others who your children know.
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