The Epidemic

Child abuse is all-too-prevalent, with child sexual abuse in particular crossing all racial, socio-economic and gender lines. This is borne out by the fact that Kristi House clients come from every zip code of Miami-Dade County, with the exception of one (Fisher Island). Most families served by Kristi House are low-income and facing multiple socio-economic stressors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called child sexual abuse a public health epidemic. The American Medical Association declared it a “silent-violent epidemic.” And the CDC and the World Health Assembly have both declared violence prevention a public health priority. Hardly a day goes by when the news doesn’t include another story of sexual assault.

The Solution

As sad and traumatic as child sexual abuse is, Kristi House has found through years of practice that with culturally sensitive, evidence-based intervention, children and families can heal from the trauma. Documented outcomes in more than two decades of practice have demonstrated that children and families who successfully complete their service plan goals in case coordination and their treatment plan in therapy function better across many domains, and that the families are better equipped to protect their children in the future.

Kristi House therapists use Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), an evidence-based treatment with 25 years of empirical data proving its effectiveness for child sexual abuse victims. TF-CBT address trauma impact for child and their families including but not limited to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, externalizing behavior problems, school problems and cognitive problems.