A 12 year old girl was received in August 2022 as a referral from Hillbrow clinic.

Background: The child was repeatedly being raped by a tenant, aged 25 years old until she got pregnant. The pregnancy was terminated and the case was opened upon the discovery of the pregnancy.

Intervention: Counselling  in a form of trauma debriefing was offered to the child as she presented emotional outburst and she was unable to express herself. Themes that were identified were around guilt, embarrassment and shame that was making it very difficult to talk about the whole ordeal of how it all started.

-Activity used: the healing manual was used, focusing more on rebuilding the self-esteem/ confidence of the child and dealing with the identified feelings.

Success after intervention: After the counselling intervention, the child was able to express herself more with the understanding that whatever happened was never her fault.

-Constant follow ups was done with the investigating officer which led to the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.

-The child was encouraged to attend the court prep sessions and counselling sessions are still ongoing with the child.