Sarah, 19, lives with her mother in a small, conservative, rural community. Sarah’s father died when she was 16 years old. Sarah’s uncle, her mother’s brother, occasionally visits on holidays. Three months ago, while her mother was out of the house, her uncle told Sarah that he loved her and then threw her down on the couch and raped her. He later told her to never mention what happened; he would go to jail, and that would be another loss her mother could not take. Sarah was terrified, ashamed, and hurt. She was relieved to have her period—at least she wasn’t pregnant--but she became anxious and withdrawn. She wouldn’t go out and couldn’t look her mom in the eyes. She missed so much work that she lost her job. She has trouble sleeping and has lost weight.
Alan, age 34, is a successful young Black man, married with one child. He works as a manager at a grocery store and is taking accounting classes to finish his degree. While his life appears stable, he lives with great inner turmoil. When Alan was 13, he was gang-raped on the way home from school by three older boys. Out of a sense of deep shame, he has never told anyone, including his parents or, later, his wife. He continues to have violent nightmares, and he suffers from high blood pressure, headaches, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Alan is prone to temper outbursts with his family followed by guilt and depression. He sometimes thinks of suicide. One evening when he couldn’t sleep, he searched online for “help for rape victims”. The first link he found was for RAINN.org.