What you need to know
- Reaching out to someone you trust or a crisis organization can help support you after a sexual assault.
- Seeking medical care helps address injuries, prevent sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy, and collect forensic evidence if you might want to report the assault.
- Therapy and peer support can help you manage difficult emotions, whether the assault happened recently or years ago.
After a sexual assault, you may have questions about how to care for your physical and mental health. Finding support can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re not sure where to start. Whether the assault happened recently or years ago, help is available.
Here’s what medical and mental health care can look like after sexual assault and how to find support on your own terms.
Recognize that sexual assault can come in many forms
Sexual assault is any sexual contact or behavior that happens without a person’s consent. It can include unwanted touching, sexual activity when someone is unable to consent, or being pressured or forced into sexual acts. Sexual assault can happen to anyone, regardless of your age, gender, or relationship to the person who caused harm.
Reach out to someone you trust
Immediately following a sexual assault, get to a safe place, like a trusted person’s home or a hospital. As you consider what care you may need, lean on a friend, family member, or partner if you feel comfortable doing so.
“Sexual assault is a very traumatic experience, and so after the assault has occurred, a survivor might not yet feel safe or have fully processed what has happened to them,” Laura Palumbo, communications director at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, tells Public Good News. “For many survivors, before they go to law enforcement or to the emergency room, they are reaching out to a loved one to let them know something happened and to try and make sense of that experience.”
You can share as much or as little as you want. You might ask someone to accompany you to an emergency room or police station or simply spend time with you.
If you don’t feel comfortable talking to a loved one or need additional support, call or text RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline or reach out to a local rape crisis center.
“Having the opportunity to express what’s happened to you and to feel like you’re believed and affirmed is so important for survivors to be able to feel like they can get their other needs met beyond that,” Palumbo says.
If you might want to report the assault, ask about a medical forensic exam
If you’re an adult, reporting a sexual assault to law enforcement is your choice. You can seek medical care and ask about having evidence collected even if you’re not ready to report.
For minors, health care providers may be required to report suspected sexual abuse or assault, though requirements vary by state. Similar requirements may apply in cases involving older adults and adults with certain intellectual disabilities.
Evidence from a sexual assault medical forensic exam is best collected as soon as possible, ideally within three days of an assault. If possible, avoid bathing, using the bathroom, or changing clothes beforehand. But even if you’ve done these things or more than three days have passed, you can still seek care.
During the exam, a specifically trained health care provider may ask about what happened, check for injuries, and collect evidence. This may involve taking photos, swabbing or combing parts of your body, or performing a pelvic exam. You can ask to have a loved one or an appointed advocate with you. You can decline any part of the exam or ask to stop at any time.
Federal law requires states to ensure that survivors receive forensic exams for free, regardless of whether they report the assault to law enforcement. Evidence may be stored while you decide whether to report. How it is collected, stored, and accessed depends on local procedures. Ask the health care provider or advocate to explain your options.
Seek medical care for injuries and other health concerns
If you have serious injuries, like severe pain, heavy bleeding, or another urgent medical concern, visit an emergency room right away. Even if you don’t have visible injuries, it’s important to get checked out at an emergency room, doctor’s office, or sexual health clinic. A health care provider can test for STIs and discuss pregnancy prevention if relevant.
“A survivor can want and need their medical needs to be addressed, regardless of whether or not they’re interested in making a report to law enforcement or making a formal report at all,” Palumbo says.
Some care after an assault is time-sensitive. If there may have been an exposure to HIV, ask about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), a medication that must be started within three days. Emergency contraception may prevent pregnancy when used within three to five days, though the options and timing vary.
If you’re not sure where to go, contact the NSVRC or RAINN to connect to care.
Find mental health support that works for you
There is no right or wrong way to feel after an assault. You might feel afraid, angry, depressed, guilty, or numb. Some people may experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, like intrusive memories, nightmares, or feeling constantly on alert.
Difficult emotions and mental health symptoms may arise soon after the assault or much later. It’s never too late to seek mental health care.
“The mental health impacts of a sexual assault are not in any way time-limited, and healing is not linear,” Palumbo explains.
Psychologist Danica Harris recommends looking for a mental health care provider who offers “body-based” therapy, like somatic therapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).
“After a sexual assault, the person’s bodily autonomy and agency has been taken from them, and so helping them to feel safe again in their own body is so critically important,” Harris says.
You can search therapist directories for providers with experience working with sexual assault survivors. You can also ask a health care provider or local rape crisis center to help you connect to care.
A therapist’s approach matters, and so does whether you feel safe and understood with them. If a therapist doesn’t feel like a good fit, it’s okay to look for someone else.
“The important thing to remember is if that [mental health provider] is not a good fit, or you do not feel like your needs are being met, that does not mean that you should stop there—maybe you need to find a different provider,” Palumbo says.
What you share in therapy is usually private, but therapists may be required to report suspected sexual abuse involving children, older adults, and adults with certain intellectual disabilites. Requirements vary by state. If you’re unsure about confidentiality, ask a therapist when they may be required to share information with authorities.
Peer support groups can also help survivors feel less alone and connect with others who understand what they’re going through. Ask a therapist or a local rape crisis center about in-person or virtual options. NSVRC also has a directory of online communities where survivors can connect through forums, chat rooms, and support groups.
Look for free and low-cost resources
If you can’t afford medical or mental health care after sexual assault, free and low-cost options may be available through NSVRC, RAINN, local rape crisis centers, Planned Parenthood, and other community health centers. State crime victim compensation programs may also help cover medical bills and therapy.
You deserve to feel heard, supported, and in control of your care. Reaching out for help can be a first step toward addressing your needs.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm or is anxious, depressed, or upset or needs to talk, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. For international resources, here is a good place to begin.