CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Therapy sessions at the Children's Advocacy Center increased by 61% from 2020 to 2021.
The rise comes from abuse in children from three years old to to around eight or ten.
Laura Alaniz is a licensed therapist for the CAC and said that their are certain emotions associated with abuse that the center sees often.
"Sad, hurt, depressed, pain, worried, scared, shocked, those are mainly the ones we see," Alaniz said.
The center mainly sees clients that range in age from three to eighteen, who are survivors of sexual and physicals abuse. Adding that since last year the center has seen a rapid increase in cases.
"Self harm, I've seen an increase in self harm and suicidal thoughts," Alaniz said. "Children that are just dealing with all this stress on their own, feeling like they're alone."
According to Alaniz the added stress of the global pandemic has also weighed on children as they navigate their academic careers.
"The school changes, going through and not being able to see their friends everyday when they were at home all the time, that was really difficult," Alaniz said. "Then you have parents that were at work while their kids were doing school at home."
The global impact that the pandemic has had on families can also be seen throughout the center. Alaniz said that some children in the center are no strangers to loss as it pertains to COVID-19.
"A lot of children have lost family members," Alaniz said. "I've had a couple that have lost multiple family members to COVID, so that has been really stressful for the children that are also going through the trauma that brought them to our center.
The demand for child therapy is high, which is why CAC doesn't charge their clients a dime. Each session with every child is completely free, including family sessions as well.
Through a state grant, CAC are able to hire more therapists and open three locations with one in Alice, Sinton and Beeville.
"When we see an increase in numbers, we all work together and do everything we do to better serve the children," Alaniz said. "We're constantly trying to find new ways and new services that we can provide to them to make sure we're not leaving any child behind. That all of our partner agencies work together to serve our community."
Alaniz also reminds parents to check in on their children as it can mean more then they could ever know.
"Sometimes they have difficulty sharing what their feeling," Alaniz said.
CACCB is open every weekday from 8 a.m.to 5 p.m. For more information on their services, click here.
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