Counseling program for teens and young adults charged with child pornography
Teens and young adults who view child pornography for sexual gratification face strong criminal penalties including arrest, incarceration, being labeled as a sexual offender and societal rejection. Some of these young people have never actually engaged in any sexual contact, but yet they face very serious legal and social problems because of their internet behavior. In some cases, the consequences of their actions results in a lifetime of irreversible consequences. STAR Guides provides a specific treatment program for youth and young adults that struggle with compulsion to look at erotic images of children.
STAR Guides holds a strong belief that treatment can be effective if the youth truly wants to get better. An obsession with illicit images of children often can be the result of deeply rooted traumas based on having been sexually abused as a child. There are few counseling programs that specialize in treatment and therapy for pornography addiction. Addiction to child pornography is often treated as a sexual offense, but yet in many cases involving teens, there has not been any sexual contact occur between the young offender and a victim. In these cases, specialized treatment that focuses on pornography addiction is needed.
Skeptics will argue whether pornography or compulsive sexual behavior constitutes an “addiction,” the abundance of pornographic Internet sites flashing increasingly disturbing images acts on some viewers in a way that mimics drug addiction. Young teen porn addicts may start viewing adult erotica, but continue to push to more explicit and hardcore porn and eventually child porn as they feed their addiction. This occurs because the young addict develops a tolerance for previously enjoyed pornographic images and no longer is satisfied by the images that used to excite them. Those who recognize they have an illness are unlikely to seek help voluntarily because of the risk of exposure. There is tremendous shame involved. Child pornography evokes a tremendous amount of indignation and fear among the public and it should.
Studies indicate that intervention and treatment for child pornography tends to be most effective among first-time offenders, juveniles and young adults who otherwise engage in normal sexual behavior.
An obvious concern among many is that youth who indulge in child porn will go on to victimize children. Although research is ongoing, many suggest there is a connection between viewing child porn and sexually abusing children. To prevent future offending, STAR Guides believes that young offenders need to be treated as soon as a problem becomes evident and receive long-term follow up. The issue isn’t whether the behavior is confined to pornography, rather we don’t want to wait until the young offender commits a hands-on crime. Treatment for a child porn user or youth sex offender is similar to that for an alcoholic or drug addict in that we are providing a therapy process that’s recovery-based as opposed to a “cure.” We teach our clients that staying in recovery is a daily effort that will require on-going attention for the rest of their lives.