Bay Area support groups and therapists post-sexual trauma?

May 27, 2014 12:23 PM

A friend of mine was sexually assaulted by her (now ex) partner, and she's really struggling in the aftermath of it. I've offered to help with some of the legwork in seeking out appropriate support group(s) and/or therapists that might be a good fit. Here are the criteria:

Therapist:
* woman
* experienced and skilled at helping people in the aftermath of sexual trauma
* ideally has a smart, complicated, nuanced approach
* under $100 per session or Kaiser covered
* in Oakland or Berkeley with evening or weekend appointments available OR daytime if it's very near the TransAmerica building

Support group:
* all women
* focus on healing from sexual trauma
* has a compassionate and critical thinking approach
* "survivor" rather than "victim" mentality
* in Oakland or Berkeley with evening or weekend sessions OR daytime if it's very near the TransAmerica building

posted by spindrifter to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Call RAINN. 1-800-656-HOPE. That number will route you to the nearest support group for survivors in your area. They may have clinicians on staff; if not, they should have a long list of recommended therapists she could work with. She may eventually have to call them herself to get a referral, but they should be able to give you the basic information you need over the phone. If that doesn't work out, or if you've tried it, let us know and we can keep looking, but it's a good first step.

Thanks for helping your friend!
posted by pretentious illiterate at 12:28 PM on May 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

http://www.sfwar.org/programs.html

May not fulfill your location requirements but SFWAR is a wonderful organization offering free (limited) peer counseling by fellow survivors. Please call.
posted by maya at 1:07 PM on May 27, 2014

http://sandchang.com/about/areas-of-emphasis/. Not under 100 bucks but may accept Kaiser. May be able to offer a referral if not.

Best wishes to your friend.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:50 PM on May 27, 2014

I just had a thought - I was assuming you were in San Francisco, but if you're not, my suggestion for RAINN won't help (because it will route it to the closest clinic to you). I did some Googling and I now second maya's suggestion of SFWAR. Their hotline is [phone]. If they function the way BARCC does in Boston (as I imagine they do), in addition to the peer counseling maya mentions, they should be able to connect you to someone who refer your friend to a recommended therapist.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 6:24 PM on May 27, 2014

CIIS has a therapy center on the same street as the Transamerica building. They do sliding scale (I've gotten sessions for $25/pop) and in my experience have usually been pretty understanding of these issues. They also have a lot of resources for support groups - I think there's actually a sexual assault support group running right now.
posted by divabat at 11:16 PM on May 27, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! These are all super helpful.
posted by spindrifter at 6:13 AM on May 28, 2014