Center Offers Safe Place For Sexual Assault Victims

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Counselors at Nashville's Sexual Assault Center are using a technique to help young victims of sexual assault communicate.

The technique is called play therapy and children are able to communicate through art work and games.

"We're giving children their mode of communication back," says counselor Lori Meyers. "We are providing a comfortable safe environment for them to tell us about some of the awful things that have happened in their lives."

The center helps young victims work through the unthinkable. Jennifer Cantrell serves as the educational manager for the center.

"It's going to be a little bit different with really young children versus middle aged students and then also then with teenage kids," says Cantrell.

Cantrell says parents need to be keyed in to any changes with their children that may indicate an issue.

"If you noticed that they withdraw from activities that they use to like to do, there's clearly something going on and you need to find out what's going on there," says Cantrell.

A center employee says signs of abuse or distress is nearly always visible.

"They may have a hesitancy to be around certain people they may have fears that they didn't have before," says Cantrell.

Just last week two Metro school employees were arrested and charged with sexual crimes against children.

Experts say to monitor what your child is doing on the computer. If they have a facebook or myspace page, have them give you a tour of the site and if possible sign up for your own page.

Counselors said not only are there predators lurking on the web, but children have tendency to express any problems they have on their page.

Find a list of possible signs of sexual abuse from Survivors & Friends, a non-profit organization whose goal is to support victims.