Part of our Mission at the Family Place it to Protect Children. To help further our Education of how we can put a stop to child abuse, Chris Yadon form the Saprea Organization shares information and resources to help prevent child sex abuse. Furthering our knowledge on resources and prevention strategies can help us carry out our mission of protecting children.
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Jen: Welcome to the Parents Place podcast with Hillary and Jen.
Hilary: Welcome to the Parents Place podcast. We are excited to have you go as we have a guest speaker with us today. This is Chris Yadon, and he is from an agency here in Lehi called Saprea. I said that correctly. Yes, I practiced it in my head a few times to make sure I had it right. We are so grateful that he has come here today, and so I'm going to turn the time over to you and let you explain a little bit about who you are and what you do and what the agency does as a whole.
Chris Yadon: Well, I'll spend a little more time on the agency than me, but just about me. I am the managing director at Saprea, which means I own I have ultimate responsibility for everything we do, but I spend my actual time doing things like this, raising awareness for child sexual abuse and prevention and healing. And so, I do a lot of media appearances, podcasts, written news media, partnership, work, things like that. That's what I spend my time doing. As far as Saprea, what we do is we exist to liberate both individuals and society from child sexual abuse, and its lasting impacts. And I highlight both individuals and society because they're both critical. The individual side is really focusing on the healing for those that have been impacted by abuse. The society side is about how do we shift society's perceptions around the issue of abuse and get particularly parents more engaged in activities that will reduce the risk that their children will experience, abuse or abuse others for that matter
Hilary: Yeah. Yes. So, tell us a little bit about some of the resources that you guys offer.
Chris Yadon: Yeah. So again, we provide them on both sides, both the healing and the prevention side. So on the healing side, we have a four day in-person retreat, followed by a nine-week asynchronous online course for adult women who were sexually abused as children. They're the largest demographic of survivors and there's not a lot of services for them. There's a lot of services for children that are currently experiencing or have recently experienced abuse, and even adult women who have recently experienced sexual violence as an adult. But for the adult woman who was abused as a child that was swept under the rug or set aside or not really dealt with; that's our largest demographic of survivors. And there's not a lot for her other than individual therapy. And we're huge proponents of individual therapy, but there needs to be some augment of services around that therapy, and that's what we do at those retreats. Also, for that demographic, we do a healing webinar, which is our newest service. This is great for people that can't quite get to the retreat for whatever reason. It's kind of a think of it as a four and a half hour best-of retreat that they can do virtually. We also have online healing resources that they can consume from home in their jammies. Yes.
Hilary: Which is the benefit of online these days. Right.
Chris Yadon: And that's important as well. And we have support groups and those are both community-based, meaning in-person in communities, but also can be available online and people can start their own support groups. They are survivor led, survivor run support groups. So that's the healing side. On the prevention side, we focus on three key things. One is online resources. This is microlearning content and this is directed at parents or other primary caregivers. So, anybody that's spending a significant amount of time in raising a child, it's for them. So, we speak primarily to parents because that's usually who it is. But these, this microlearning content, think 3 to 5 minute nuggets that they can grab on to that will help them in their parenting behaviors. Avoid paranoia, then engage in protective behaviors that reduce the risk their child will be abused or abuse others. In addition to that, we have community-based education. So, we work with a lot of partners that engage parents and primary caregivers. We train them on what I would describe as facilitated content that they can facilitate for their parents. So, if they want to teach an education class to their local community around the topic of child sexual abuse prevention, for example, we have one that really emphasizes on teen-on-teen sexual assault, that teaches about boundaries, how to set and hold boundaries, the principles of consent. And so, we teach parents how to engage with that topic with their teens. That would be an example of one of the classes. And then the last thing we do is the general public awareness where we're kind of getting out of the individual programs and services and elevating up to say, how do we get society to shift. Our society’s, and I’m super excited about this, is going through a shift right now. Some relates to this topic, but we're at the beginning stages of that movement. And when you look at past movements, there are certain things that you know, something like car seat safety. How did I go from being a child that was never put in a car seat to being a parent that always put my kids in the right? How did that change happen? That's societal change. We need the same type of thing to happen with child sexual abuse, where parents go from, no one wants sexual abuse to happen, but I'd say there's a lot of indifference in parenting around the issue. They Ton't think it's an issue that affects them or that's relevant to their kids. We've got to shift that because every child, no matter where you live, rich or poor, race, religious, non-religious economic chain, everybody is impacted by child sexual abuse and all children that are at risk. So, helping parents understand how do I engage in the issue of child sexual abuse and overcome some of the stigmas and social awkwardness around it, that's that societal change awareness that we focus on.
Hilary: So, let's talk about that a little bit, because you say that we're making progress, which we're excited about, but there's still work to do. Yeah. So where do you as a society give us a little bit more description as to, I think, how the general society feels?
Chris Yadon: Yeah, so we've done some market research here, specifically in Utah, though I think it's applicable outside the state because we're pretty normal when it comes to the issue. And generally speaking, what parents are telling us is they believe sexual abuse happens, but they believe it's somewhere, somewhere else or to someone else. It's not my school, it's not in my neighborhood, it's not in my church group, it's not in my community. Right? It's some other community. And they feel really bad for that other community. Well, the reality is it's happening right under their nose and may well happen to their own child. A lot of children don't even disclose to their own parents until they're adults that they've been abused. So, it's getting it's getting that mindset to shift that parents look at it. And again, we don't want to create paranoia because sexual abuse is scary. But it's like, okay, I need to accept that on my list of things to protect against as a parent, sexual abuse needs to be on there. And right now, it's not on there.
Hilary: And so, it's probably just making them more aware that statistically speaking, this could happen to any child. Right? And kind of hitting it home and that way. Is that the best way that we go about doing that?
Chris Yadon: It's part of the equation. Statistics help, but statistics until a parent has a personal experience, they have a tough time wrapping their head around it. And so, we can share the statistics, nationally, one in 5 to 1 in ten, depending on the study you look at, of children are going to be sexually abused by age 18. It's going to fall somewhere in that range, one in 5 to 1 in ten. Yeah. And you think about even the best-case scenario, one in ten. That is horrific. Yes. Right? So, you share that stat with a parent and they're like, oh, that's horrible. And then they go on their way and do their thing and don't think about it again. What impacts parents is when someone in their neighborhood, they learn, has been sexually abused or even more powerful when someone they love who's an adult survivor says, I'm the one and five or seven. And they're like, wait, I've known you for 20 years. How? How did I not know this? Yeah. When we can help survivors feel comfortable speaking up, it makes it relevant to parents. That's when parents start paying attention and they're like, if that happened to my friend, I grew up in a family and I know the amazing family.
Hilary: In a similar neighborhood to me.
Chris Yadon: Then they start to go, wait a second, maybe something's going on I need to pay attention to.
Jen: Has society kind of, do they kind of understand now that it's not necessarily the stranger, it's someone within their own home or their group as a family?
Chris Yadon: Yeah. So, the market research that we've done here in the state of Utah says there has been a positive shift there. So, my generation grew up with strangers, right? So, a lot of today's parents grew up with stranger danger. And I think many parents have recognized that's still real. But it's a small percentage of the risk. I will say, though, like in the recent awareness wave that happened a couple of years ago around trafficking and it kind of exacerbated, that issue because people talked about trafficking as the, you know, some villainous evil person that's going to take my child away. That does happen. But that's not where most trafficking happens. Most trafficking happens from someone they know that's in that family circle of trust, not from some stranger. So that that may have kind of set us back a little bit. But overall, we're seeing a shift in that particular arena. And the stats say, again, depending on the study, you'll see anywhere between 80 and 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the family knows. So, it's a high percentage by someone the family knows. The stranger danger isn't as big of an issue compared to the family issue.
Hilary: I know I've heard difference in the differences in statistics, but from your experience, is there an increase in sexual abuse? Is it just that we're getting better at reporting? Is technology playing a role into that increase? What have you tend to find trend wise with those statistics?
Chris Yadon: I would say we don't know because there's competing information there. So let me give you a few examples. Some agencies are reporting that child sexual abuse has shifted from the one in five to about one in ten, that there's been a decrease. But then you take a study like the CDC does a surveillance survey every two years with our high school age kids, and they asked three sexual violence questions. And one of those questions that they ask is around sexual assault specifically. And nationally, that is growing. So, in their 2021 report just came out two weeks ago and 18% of our girls nationally report having been sexually assaulted in the last 12 months alone. Wow. Part of the issue with stats in our industry is people define child sexual abuse differently. So, some people say child sexual abuse only is touch and only is an instance of an adult or an older minor, on a child. They don't include things like teen-on-teen sexual assault or non-touch sexual violence. And other studies do. And that's why you get kind of this gap in stats, right. So, you have to really understand the stats, you have to understand what are they measuring? How do you define what's sexual violence and specifically what's child sexual abuse? At Saprea, we use a broader definition because when we serve survivors, the impacts are the same whether it was touch, no touch, whether it was a teen-on-teen sexual assault or a molestation, the traumatic impacts and the post-traumatic stress results are the same. The circumstances that led to it might be slightly different, but the results are the same. Okay.
Hilary: So, one of my I'll tell you, when I'm talking to parents about this topic, I always refer them to your website because you have so much good information for parents. One of the things that I love on there is you talk about what is developmentally appropriate to talk about for your kids at different ages and stages. So, you talk about the societal shift. Are we getting better at that? At talking to our kids?
Chris Yadon: Yes, the current generation of parents is talking more, doing good around topics having to do with sexual health. And from our perspective, we don't really take an opinion on whether an after-school program should or shouldn't, whether school should or shouldn't. We believe that whoever is that primary caregiver, usually the parent, should be primary on this topic. And if other groups or agencies surround it with discussions about the topic, it's augmentative. It's not the primary place for education. So, we are strong believers in empowering parents to be the primary place that education takes place. We believe it takes too many conversations for anybody else to do it effectively. So, you look at our country that's very divided on the topic, like comprehensive sexual education. The reality is there's no amount of health classes that can have sufficient enough discussions to really help a child develop their sexual health appropriately. They just don't have enough touch points. So, whether you believe you should or shouldn't. Yeah, I say it's almost irrelevant because if the family isn't doing it, the child's not getting what they need.
Hilary: That's a great point. I love that because I think so often we parents see it as a, you know, they took that class, right? They took that class in school. We can cross it off the list. They're done now at that point. And it's like, no, no, no, no. This is just the beginning, right? It's just the starting point.
Chris Yadon: And the little talks are, in my opinion, as important or maybe even more important than the big talks. And what I referred to when I say the little talks, it's all the in-between discussions that come up in between kind of that big sit down where you talk about maybe sexual reproduction or puberty. Right? These topics we think of as appearances or am I ready to have that right? It's all the little talks in between. Here's an example. So not too long ago, I'm driving my, at the time she was a 12-year-old, girl to dance. And we're listening to the radio and a commercial comes up around erectile dysfunction and she says, “Dad, what's erectile dysfunction?” Right? You're like, oh. That's one of those little talks. Right? So, I had a very matter of fact discussion with her. She’s like, you know, kind of sat there like, why did I ask this question? All right, I take it all back. But I had a very matter of fact discussion with her. It wasn't awkward for me. It wasn't uncomfortable for me. I've had hundreds probably amongst my six kids, maybe even thousands of these conversations at this point. And it was something that she was curious about and wanted to know. And you consider the alternative. What if she didn't feel comfortable asking Dad.
Jen: Imagine her Googling that.
Chris Yadon: That. Exactly. Yeah. My oldest daughter, who's now 22, when she was in sixth grade, came home and said what does the word prostitute mean. And she said, ‘I heard it on the playground'. Right? And same thing. Imagine what if she's Googling that topic, all the risks of online predation or the risks of misinformation that she could get wrapped up in. So those little talks are critical. And back to my daughter's story about when she asked about erectile dysfunction. You know, I asked her, are you glad you asked me? Her response was, she said, ‘No, but I'm glad I know’. So, there you have it. Those are the little talks and those are critical yet in the prevention equation because you're giving your children the words they need to raise concerns if they are experiencing something that is off and that's not right. It gives them the words that reduces the shame around the topic for them to say. You know, back to my oldest daughter first she came back to me her sophomore year and just like ‘Dad, this boy keeps hugging me and he won't stop. And I said, no’. All right. So, we have a boundaries issue. Why did she feel comfortable having that discussion with me? Because we had had lots of other discussions leading up to it. Right? I don't know if this boy would have ever sexually assaulted her or not, but he wasn't honoring her boundaries, and that's not okay. So, in that particular case, we were able to intervene, and we helped her. We let her choose. We said we can stop it. We're your parents. It's our job. Or this is a great opportunity to practice setting and holding boundaries. She chose the latter. She was very firm with the boy. He stopped. Yeah, right? Empowered her to be part of her prevention plan and equation. Yeah, I love that.
Jen: I love that. It's a lot of little talks. Yeah. So, some people think, oh, I'll get the big birds and bees talk and...
Hilary: And then I'm good.
Jen: But no, it's lots of little talks.
Hilary: So, I imagine that we have some parents that are listening at this point and thinking, I have never ventured into that realm of having those conversations. And maybe they have still a young child, school age child. Where do we begin? Maybe that's the question they're asking themselves. Where do I even start?
Chris Yadon: There's lots of great resources, but I'm going to just point you to our website and even go back to the resources you reference. So that's saprea.org. If you go under our prevention area, you're going to find you're going to find a section called Raising Capable Kids. And in that section, you're going to find a little guide for discussions you can have at each age group. Age-appropriate conversations. And it starts early. Like, you know you think about a two-year-old, you're talking about basic body safety and bodily autonomy, you know, and this, parents, this is going to come back on you. Here's another kind of funny story. So, our now eight-year-old was three or four at the time. So, think early age. But we had had some of those body bodily autonomy discussions. Right? So, she climbs up on her kitchen counter and mom says to her, ‘Hey, you need to get down’. And she's like, ‘No’. And mom's like, ‘Yeah, you need to get down’. She's like, ‘No, it's my body and I get to decide’. So, like, oh, darn it.
Hilary: Yes, but...
Chris Yadon: All right. So, super proud moment, but just know, it backfires. But I share that that I'll help the parents understand that kids, even at a young age, can grasp an important part of concepts that are part of reducing the risk that they'll be abused or abuse other. Bodily autonomy, be an example of that young age.
Jen: I had a person who used to work here, and she was very much willing to talk to her kids about anything and everything. And she had just had her little one private body parts, the correct terminology. And she went to church, stood up on that. The teacher said, ‘What are you grateful for?’ And she's like, ‘I'm grateful for my vagina!’ And it's like, oh, do teachers want to know? She just learned that that's what she's got.
Chris Yadon: And if we have an educated teacher there, he or she will respond, ‘That's wonderful’. Exactly, right? Yeah.
Hilary: So, I would make the assumption that one of the fears for parents is, what if they ask me something and I don't have an answer to that question? What's an appropriate response as a parent when those questions do come up and we may not know how to address it?
Chris Yadon: I'm a big fan of being real with your kids, and I'll just say how I would respond in that situation. I would say, you know, ‘That's a good question. I want to learn more about that. So, I'm going to I'm going to go learn more about it, and then we'll come back and visit about it.’ That's how I would respond. And just put them, you know, comfortable about asking, you know, even you could even inadvertently make them uncomfortable by asking, even if you said, I don't know, I haven't ever thought of that, because then they're thinking, wow, I've asked something that’s...
Jen: Why am I thinking about it?
Chris Yadon: Yeah. So, you know, putting them in the position of, ‘Hey, I want to learn about that too. Let me go learn like that and let's talk'. Just anything you can do to normalize what they're asking about to keep those conversation channels open is going to pay big dividends in the longer runt
Hilary: You know I have had some parents that have been fearful of the fact that if I bring up these conversations, if I bring up this new information, it's giving my kids new ideas, things that I didn't want them to be thinking. And they're going to take that information and run with it in an inappropriate way. Which I mean, I disagree with. But do we have, you know, do we have research on how that's not necessarily the case?
Chris Yadon: Yeah, there is research on it. I don't have the numbers off the top of my head on this one, so I'm not going to quote numbers. Yeah, but the research is overwhelming that it talking to your kids in an age-appropriate way around sexual health, around sexual abuse does not increase their likelihood to do things that are inappropriate for their age. Okay. And instead, it has the opposite effect. Or if they do something that could become problematic, they're more likely to discuss it with you so you can intervene as a parent. I would so much rather as a parent be able to intervene early, than have them be shamed or scared because they heard something on the playground, like the word prostitute. And instead of setting an environment where I can comfortably talk about it with them, they feel like they have to go get their answer from other places. That is much higher risk that they're going to end up in some sort of maladaptive or unhealthy behavior. Then you being open with your kids. So, pick your risks. I'll take the risk of being open every time.
Jen: Yeah. Yeah. I have a stepdaughter, and when I first entered into her life, she was nine. And so, I would go to these. I was always like, I don't know if I should, stepmom, be talking to her about these things, but then I go to these conferences and trainings and I'm like, I've got to speak up. So, if she doesn't feel comfortable with her mother, then she can definitely, or her dad, because he is very much so, I don't want to talk about any of that. And I learned that when we were in the car, and she said she had learned about bees and that they ejaculate their stingers. And he's like, ‘You don't say that word’. And I'm like, well, if you think about the word, that's what they're doing with their stinger when it comes out of their body. And so, I'm like, ‘Nay nay, let's talk about this for a minute’. But I, you know, stepparents, make sure that they know that you're willing to talk about it as well. I mean, that open communication is such an important piece of parenting.
Chris Yadon: It is co-parenting is difficult and it takes a challenging topic like sexual health or sexual abuse prevention and just makes it that much more difficult because you have more adults that have opinions about how it should be done in the equation. So, we always tell co-parents, and we've even written some blogs specifically around co-parenting with this issue. That you need to try hard to get on the same page with the other adults. And if they don't feel comfortable, make sure that they're okay with you having that discussion, if you feel comfortable. If they don't feel comfortable having that discussion, then you've got to kind of have those hard conversations around what's appropriate in a co-parenting environment. But one thing I'll highlight, and I love that you engage as a stepmom is when you look at kind of that that circle of protection around the child, it's powerful to have their parent be engaged. When you start expanding that community, whether it's a stepparent and a community group, a teacher, a coach, where they also understand prevention and in appropriate ways, they can reinforce what's being taught at home. That circle of protection becomes that much more powerful for that child. I always tell people we will truly address sexual abuse when every parent in America is engaging in protection, and when you have the combined efforts of their immediate community watching out for those kids and then the combined efforts of an entire state, meaning a bunch of communities around a country, we'll see the same type of change we've seen from other societal movements that have happened in the past .
Jen: Yeah, the whole Black Lives Matter last year or two years ago. I'm like, we need to have something like this for child abuse. We need to be marching down our streets saying, this is not okay. That's my dream one day.
Chris Yadon: Yeah, you know. I love that you brought that up because when you look at the history of successful societal movements and you look back at the civil rights movement. Black Lives Matter doesn't happen if the civil rights movement. Right? So that movement around racial equity, whether you agree with how people do it or not. So, let's set that aside, the movement of around racial equity has been going on for a long time. So, think about that movement and think about the early stages of that civil rights movement, what was going on, the type of conversations, the "podcasts” where people were talking about it at that time. That's where we're at with child sexual abuse. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us. But I guarantee you, the people in the early stages of the civil rights movement looked at this mountain and said, ‘How are we ever going to change this?’ And yet here we are many years later and a lot's changed. And the same thing can happen with sexual abuse and child abuse in general.
Hilary: That is such an intriguing way to think about it. We've just got to live long enough to see it.
Chris Yadon: And we need the early pioneers willing to do that, right?
Hilary: That is very cool. So, let's kind of switch gears just to an extent. Let's say that our child comes to us and discloses that they have been a victim or they currently, you know, have a have a problem with somebody that is not respecting their boundaries. What should our response sound like to that child?
Chris Yadon: This can get really tricky. And the reason why it can get tricky is based on what we do as a parent, we can shut them down for good, potentially retraumatize them or really empower them and help them. And so, understanding what to do and specifically the principles behind what to do is far more important, in my opinion, than the specific words. So, the principles that should govern when a child discloses number one is believe them. The research around the false reports say that false reports are extremely rare. And when I'm saying extremely rare, we're talking 2 to 7%. So, your default response should be to believe them. And that's harder to do than you might think because you probably know the person that they're disclosing about you probably have a relationship with them. And so, you're going to get flooded with all sorts of emotions in that moment and to choose to believe them rather than discount it is harder than it sounds. And so, you've got to make, it's one of those things where you have to make the decision beforehand, I'm going to choose to believe, so that when you're in the circumstance, you actually do it. So that's the first principle, choose to believe. The second principle is, don't get too nosey. This is where you can really retraumatize somebody. So, lots of open-ended questions. What do you want to tell me about it? You know, help me understand what you're experiencing. What do you think? How do you want me to help you? Now, the younger they get, the harder that is to have those open-ended conversations. So, it depends a little bit on the age, but the principle of not grilling them, because if you start grilling them, there's high risk that they'll shut down. And the problem with that is then when you take them for professional services or help, that it will be even that much harder for them to engage in that environment. So, you definitely want to kind of keep open dialogue, express your love and your gratitude that they trusted you to share something so difficult. So those open-ended questions, the principle there is curiosity. Right? So, believe, approach it with curiosity. The other principle, and I kind of mentioned this a little bit in the believing part is you've got to take a time out as a parent to deal with your own emotions and not put your emotions on the child. Children are perceptive. We as humans are built to be perceptive of others’ body language, of other people's emotions. We interpret them automatically. And so, you have to take a time out. After you feel like you've given the initial support that you need, make sure they know they're loved, thanking them, approached with some curiosity, you need to go take a breather as a parent and check your own emotions. And be careful that they do not, that the child, doesn't experience your emotions or the way you project your emotions on them, because that's another thing that will shut them down. So, once you've done those things, then it's time to... The fourth principle is look outside of you for help. There are professionals that do this all day, every day. There are resources like yours that can support families in these circumstances, and they need those resources. So, turning to your professional resources that are trained, that know how to do this, and then in a way that is most conducive to the child, having a positive experience is great, and we have great services here in the state of Utah. Groups like this are great. There's lots of good services out there.
Hilary: Do you feel the necessity to tell the child the next steps of what may or potentially may happen in this progress?
Chris Yadon: Yeah, I would. I personally would suggest to hold off on that. I don't think it's critical in that initial disclosure, unless they're asking for it. If they're asking for what happens next, then yeah, you need to be true to what they're asking. But if they're not asking, I think that's a conversation that comes after, specifically after you've engaged professionals. Because as a parent, you may not know what comes next. You know, you may reach out to that, say law enforcement and law enforcement's next steps are very different than the CJC’s next steps. Or you may have reached out to the Department of Child and Family Services, and their next steps may be different. So, you know, you don't know as a parent yet really what the next steps are. What you can say, if they say, tell me what happens next is, ‘Hey, there are people in this world that are specially trained to help us’, to help us, not you, right? To help us. And we're going to use their talents and we're really grateful for them. So, I'm going to reach out to them. My job as your parent is to be your advocate and protect you. And that's what I'm going to do, to keep you safe. And I'm going to engage and I'm going to find out what those next steps are.
Hilary: And what that will you remind our listeners out there if we do need to report abuse, what the protocol is here specifically for our area for Utah?
Chris Yadon: Generally speaking, in Utah, with very few exceptions, any adults that suspect a child abuse and child sexual abuse specifically have an obligation to report. That report can go to DCFS or law enforcement. Those are the two primary places I would encourage people to start. If you do disclose to other places like a therapist or others, other services, even a group like ours, we will likely be obligated to report. If you choose not to. But we always want to encourage parents to be the ones to report their children disclose.
Hilary: And parents are, I think, fearful. Anonymous reporting as well so I think we need to remind them that.
Chris Yadon: That's an option.
Hilary: Yeah, this has been incredibly helpful. I love this information that you have given us, and I love the gentle reminder that we want to be that go to person that our kids go to. We want to be the one that's giving them the information, the vocabulary, the skills that they need in order to succeed. And I think that that's a powerful reminder for our parents here. As we kind of wrap things up, is there any final advice that you would offer to our listeners out there?
Chris Yadon: Yeah, I mean, here's what I would say to parents. You might be coming to the end of this podcast going, whoa, another thing. Right? And it’s a lot. It's a scary one. There is so much hope in you being empowered.
Hilary: Yeah.
Chris Yadon: Prevention. You don't have to move mountains to move the needle. A little bit of education for you as a parent can go a long way to reducing the risk for your child that they'll be abused or abuse others. And we haven't talked as much about the abuse others' side, which is very relevant. And there some there's some crazy things going on. If you think sextortion alone, which we consider part of the child sexual abuse equation. It's growing like crazy right now in our junior high and high schools. And if you're not having those conversations, your kids are being exposed. But it doesn't take you moving mountains to have those type of conversations. And you will empower your kids. You'll strengthen your relationship. Just take a little bit of time to educate yourselves. There's lots of great resources out there, including ours at saprea.org. Go take some time to educate yourself and let’s take the paranoia out of it, let’s take the fear out of it. Let's replace that with education, because that's what empowers us to be successful with our kids.
Hilary: And just as a reminder, again, you touched on this earlier, but obviously everyone has access to your website, but for some of your services that are obviously in-person, we're here in Utah, but those webinars, things like that, I'm assuming people outside of our state can use those as well.
Chris Yadon: Yeah, we were based in Utah, and we pay particular attention to Utah because it's one of our two home states, but we actually are a national and even international agency. We've clients that come from all over the country, we’ve had clients from all 50 states. We've had about 6% of our clientele from international locations. We have broad followings, both nationally and internationally. So, wherever you are listening to this, our services can help you. And the best news about our services is due to the generosity of donors, they're all free.
Hilary: That's amazing. Including those retreats. Wow. That is very cool. Will you remind our listeners out there how you could get involved in those retreats as well as how you sign up. What's the process?
Chris Yadon: So, our websites can be our portal to everything. Okay, so go to saprea.org. It's divided into two major sections, the healing side and the prevention side. Go down the track that's relevant to you and if you want to engage in that healing webinar or in the retreat because you're a survivor, an adult woman who was sexually abused as a child, you'll see the links right there and just a couple of clicks to help you get started in that process.
Jen: Amazing.
Hilary: I know truly to have an opportunity to participate in something like that free of charge is an incredible gift to give these individuals. And your focus primarily on female survivors?
Chris Yadon: Yeah, we hope that changes soon.
Hilary: I was going to say, are there plans to expand that?
Chris Yadon: We've opened our funding to do male programs. We have a long ways to go to fund them. It takes a lot of money to do what we do. So, we definitely need generous donors that want to come on the table for male programs. But we've opened the funding and started the process to head down that path.
Hilary: That's really cool. Do you know of programs that are available out there currently?
Chris Yadon: There are a few men's programs, and I don't think they're having near the success that the women's programs are. There's different challenges that men face as it relates to child sexual abuse, but we're confident that with the right support and the right experts we’ll be able to help crack that and give a valuable service to men as well.
Jen: I want to thank you so much for coming in today. This is information that everybody needs to hear and hopefully this will help some people be more comfortable in having these hard conversations and having them often with their kids. I always say take advantage of those teachable moments if it’s listening to the radio or watching a movie on TV. Take those times. Hit pause. Let's talk about this. And so, thank you so much. Thank you for listening to the Parents Place Podcast. If you would like to reach us, you can at parents@thefamilyplace.org. Or you can reach Jen on Facebook. Jen Daly – the Family Place. Please check out our Show notes for any additional information. Our website is thefamilyplaceutah.org, if you're interested in any of our upcoming virtual classes. We'd love to see you there.
Subject Resources:
1. https://saprea.org/
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