Seek Help

The courage to seek help

No excuse justifies sexually abusing a child.

If you’re someone who has sexually abused a child, gets pleasure from viewing child abuse images (child pornography) or fantasizes about sexually abusing children, the thought of seeking help is likely a scary one. But having the courage to get help is something that will not only benefit the children who would have been victimized it will also benefit you.

Those who do not seek help, live with the shame and guilt of knowing that their actions will hurt a child emotionally and physically. They are also hounded by the very real fear that their actions could result in criminal charges, prison, loss of employment, friends, family and security.

In reality, considering the consequences of not getting help, seeking appropriate counseling is not as scary as doing nothing.

First steps

Providing treatment for those who commit sexual offences, or who have thoughts of sex with children, requires specialized therapeutic skills. It’s important to find a counseling resource that can best help. This can take some time and research but it’s important.

One place to start is to get in touch with an anonymous crisis phone line in your home community. These resources often have information about local specialized counseling resources. You can find listings of many crisis lines across Canada on the Centre for Suicide Prevention Website. Many of these resources offer assistance for various crises in addition to suicidal thoughts.

In the Laval/Montreal region, you can consult CIDS (CISD – Center for Intervention in Sexual Delinquency). 450 967-3941. The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute website provides a listing of specialized resources for sex-specific therapists. It also links to helpful information about what to look for when considering a therapist.

Stop it Now! is a site dedicated to providing self-help resources for problem Internet use with respect to illegal images.