Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2405

Tonight's special guest is Andrew Pari, LCSW, from the Antelope Valley area of Los Angeles, a returning NAASCA family member who is the founder and Executive Director of Sexual Assault Awareness. Called the ‘nation’s leading authority on the arousal mechanism in sexualized violence,’ Andrew is a psychotherapist with over 20 years' experience treating survivors of sexual abuse and assault, including CSEC and sex workers. "I've done a number of law enforcement/military trainings, along with conferences since we last spoke," Andrew reports, "I speak and train nationally on the experience of arousal during rape/sexual abuse and how that affects survivors." Andrew explains, "What brought me to my work and research was an interaction I had years ago with a colleague who denied sexual abuse/assault when a person experienced arousal during the event." Pursuing the literature and research to see what was out there, he found it was quite common for survivors to delay recovery due to feelings of shame or guilt, and a sense of self-responsibility for childhood sexual assaults. Children are helpless, innocent, and powerless against predators. The 'responsibility' belongs to the predators .. not the child. Andrew shares, "I had assumed this was common knowledge in the field. I have since learned that there is still so much to do in basic education on arousal for survivors. It's an area of great pain, great damage, and great danger for those who don't address it in treatment."