My Time Treating Incest Families

Breaking the Cycle of Child Sex Abuse

My BA in Psychology, Stanford, in 1954 prepared me for marriage and a family, but little more. Before marriage, I was a Social Worker in Santa Cruz administering AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). In the mid-sixties, when the children were in school, I administered AFDC for Santa Clara County. In the early seventies, I went to San Jose State University for an elementary school credential. In 1975 I began the two year masters program in Marriage and Family Counseling at the University of Santa Clara. The program was humanistic orientated and the perfect fit for me. As an intern, I joined the newly formed Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program. As an intern, one need 3000 hours of practicum, 500 hours of personal therapy and completion of at least one years of a masters program before being eligible for licensure. There I stayed in San Jose, for 17 years, becoming a staff counselor until I went into private practice. I still see clients after 37 years. The philosophy of Hank Giarretto, who founded the treatment program, was to treat the whole family. The focus was incest families. Hank pioneered treating sex offenders along with the rest of the family. At the pinnacle, there were more than 60 satellite programs around the world, patterned after Hanks pilot program. All my stories are true although names and places have been scrambled. Not all my clients were from incestuous families. In all cases, there was at least some component present similar to incest families. My hope is that people reading this will learn more about themselves and others. I remain optimistic that people instinctively drive to become more whole, and that there is a flow between their conscious and unconscious selves. The first courageous step is to walk into the counseling office to ask for help. I know people are making progress when they take what they have learned and practice it at home.