Recovering from an Assault – A Survivor’s Checklist

Sexual assault is definitely one of the worst things that can happen to a person. It can make you feel less than human. The trauma you have gone through will likely remain with you. However, it makes sense that you take certain actions in the aftermath, and we’ll talk about them right now.

Make Sure You’re Safe

Depending on your condition, you will likely want to think about pressing charges, assuming you know the person who assaulted you. That means you should know the statute of limitations. For instance, you’re looking at two years as the Texas statute of limitations for injury cases.

However, none of that probably feels important in the direct aftermath. That’s a time when making sure you’re safe should take priority. If you know the person who assaulted you, make sure they can’t get to you again. If you’re at home, and they don’t have access to you, ensure it stays that way. Lock the doors and windows.

If they can access your home because they have a key or they live there with you, leave and seek assistance elsewhere. Go stay with someone who you trust. A family member or friend should work. You should pick someone who will shelter you during the recovery process.

Consider Your Medical Options and Take Action

Right after a sexual assault, you may feel violated. You might want to shower or bathe to get rid of the feeling. That’s natural, but if you’re going to press charges later against the person who assaulted you, it’s helpful if you can retain any physical evidence. It will help your eventual court case.

Once you’re with a friend or family member who you trust and who you know will support you, you can go to a medical facility. A hospital should have the necessary resources. There, doctors and other medical professionals will collect any evidence. That might include fluids, hair, skin, etc.

What you go through at this point might feel invasive, and it’s probably the last thing you want after your experience. If you don’t submit to medical treatment, though, you will likely lose the evidence you need to convict the individual who assaulted you.

At a minimum, you should have a friend or family member take pictures of any marks on your body indicating someone assaulted you. Those images will certainly come in handy later. If you go to a hospital or some other medical facility, the staff can handle this for you.

Contact the Police

You should next reach out to the police. You need to file a report that tells what happened. This means you’ll get your account of the event on record. This record will show what you say happened, when it took place, and where the individual assaulted you.

That record will stand as additional evidence later. You can probably use it to get a restraining order against the person who assaulted you if you know them. Since many assaults happen between people who know each other, trying to get a restraining order will probably become important in the immediate aftermath.

That’s especially true if a significant other or spouse assaulted you. It’s hard thinking about these things happening, but many times, the spouse or significant other plays the part of the perpetrator.

Take Some Time to Process the Experience

A sexual assault registers as a traumatic event, one that can impact a person like a severe car wreck, seeing action as an enlisted member of the military, or surviving a natural disaster. You might have a hard time getting past what happened. You may replay the event over and over in your mind.

You might even think about what you could have done differently that could have prevented the assault. It’s natural that you might feel that way. However, you should not try to process what happened on your own. You need a support network, and that includes anyone you trust who you might talk to about what occurred.

If you don’t feel like you can talk to a family member, friend, member of the clergy, or anyone else with whom you’re close, you might seek out a therapist instead. Therapy for sexual assault survivors can help you process what happened.

If nothing else, you can have a safe space to talk about what you experienced and how you’re feeling afterward. Bottling up those emotions likely won’t help you. Getting them out in the open and articulating them will probably feel healthy and therapeutic.

Consider Taking Legal Action

While you’re processing what happened, you can also think about hiring a lawyer and potentially pursuing legal action against the individual who assaulted you. If the police find your story credible, then they can arrest the perpetrator and charge them with sexual assault, assuming you know who did it.

If you don’t know the perpetrator, you can tell the police everything you remember. Hopefully, they can create a profile and eventually find the person who did it. If you do know the person and the police arrest them, you can appear in court and give testimony that might result in the perpetrator’s conviction.

If you can describe in detail what took place, then you should have a strong case, along with material evidence from the rape kit, if you got one. Pictures from when the assault happened, eyewitness accounts, and any other evidence can help your cause as well.

The police and the court system should pursue criminal charges against the individual who assaulted you, but you can also pursue a civil case against them in some instances. If the assault traumatized you, for example, and you find you can’t leave the house and go to work like you could before, a lawyer can represent you if you’re pursuing a civil action.

The individual who harmed you might pay both civil and criminal penalties. That will not take back what they did, but perhaps you’ll feel at least somewhat gratified.