Troubled Teens Resources

You would think that a student who reported sexual abuse by a teacher would not be the recipient of her peers’ and teachers’ contempt and disdain. You would expect that the school would fire said teacher and make amends to her family. But apparently some teachers protect their own. That is what one family discovered after reporting a music teacher’s sexual advances.

“It’s a silent epidemic is what it is,” the girl’s father says. “People are protecting people who aren’t worth protecting. I hope our daughters will have that instilled in them, too — that you report what you know.”

Their daughter finished her education in private boarding schools, unable to endure the backlash her report unleashed.

“Immediately after news of Sperlik’s arrest hit in January 2005, people began questioning the girls’ motives: Why didn’t they come forward sooner? Were they really telling the truth?

Some think their parents simply want money from a lawsuit.
[…]
It was almost too much for the girl, who never anticipated such harsh public scrutiny.”

The troubled teenager dyed her hair black and began a ritual often associated with sexual abuse - cutting. Finally, an attempted suicide landed her in a psychiatric hospital.

“I just can’t take it anymore,” she wrote in a note to her parents.

(source)

And neither should parents. Read the article in full and understand that it must be parents who protect their teens’ best interest. Recent reports on sexual abuse perpetrated by teachers, like the one quoted, suggest that all to often, some in the teaching profession are far more interested in protecting their own.

Schools for troubled teens that deal with emotionally abused teen girls are very familiar with the phenomenon of self-mutilation or “cutting”. Often it is the only way extremely troubled teens can deal with overwhelming emotions but it is extremely frightening for parents who can not comprehend why their child would choose to harm themselves.

“Self-injury is not really about inflicting physical pain as much as it is about escape from emotional pain. The emotional pain and physical tension of an unhappy adolescent can be relentless. By causing physical pain, an adolescent can reduce the level of emotional and physiological distress to a bearable level. Minor physical pain, such as pulling their hair, provides a distraction from their feelings. This can progress to scratching, picking at sores, cutting or burning.”

Self-cutting could be a cry for help,a symbol of emotional trauma too big for the teen to comprehend or articulate. Some reports associate sexual abuse with a teen’s need to cut themselves.

“Adolescents who self-injure usually have underlying problems. There is a strong relationship between self-harm and sexual abuse before 13 years of age.”

In some instance, self-injury indicates that the teen feels an overwhelming desire to punish themselves for their perceived failures.

“Those who are sensitive and insecure may come to believe they are failures. Self-injury is reinforced when an adolescent believes they should be punished and their self-injury results in emotional relief. An adolescent may punish him- or herself for many reasons.”

(Source)