From Silence To Healing

Vanitha Chandrasegaram shares with HealthToday her experience and insight in counseling sexually abused children.

- Lim Teck Choon

Sexual abuse among children is a topic that many of us try not to dwell too much on. This is understandable, as the thought of an adult committing sexual acts on children is horrifying and repulsive to most rational adults. Sexual abuse does happen to children, however, and these children require care and support for their mind, heart and soul to heal.

Drama therapist Vanitha Chandrasegaram is no stranger to helping these children heal. In fact, as a psychotherapist – someone qualified and licensed to help people who experience psychological issues – she is in a particularly good position to help as she is trained in creative arts therapy.

Creative arts therapy – which include drama therapy (Vanitha’s specialty), arts therapy, music therapy and others – are especially useful in reaching out to people to whom words do not come easily and hence do not open up verbally. Children, especially young ones, who have been sexually abused may not fully understand what was done to them, or they may not be able to vocalize their feelings and emotions fully. Therefore, creative arts therapy are especially effective to help these children heal.

Since children enjoy many different forms of play, the lines between each type of creative arts therapy are often blurred. “I often use a sand tray in these sessions,” Vanitha elaborates. Normally the use of a sand tray falls under art therapy, but in the safe space that Vanitha creates in her office for herself and the child, such categorization does not matter. Along with the sand tray, she offers soft toys, pictures, puppets, miniatures, action figures, cards and other objects that typically delight and entertain children. Indeed, her office often resembles a playroom rather than a counseling room!

LET THE WEAK BE STRONG