By: Valerie Cifuentes, Bilingual Trauma Therapist



The following excerpt is part of a young client’s healing journey shared by her therapist. To read the extended version with Emily’s complicated backstory and ongoing progress, visit our blog. (The client's name has been changed to protect her identity.)

In July 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, I took on 10-year-old Emily who came to CAC for disclosures of sexual abuse. By the time I started working with her, she was in foster care with no one to really advocate for her and no ability to share her story and begin healing from the trauma. Although it was initially frustrating, I learned that I had to be patient and stop looking for the answers I didn’t have and just meet Emily where she was at. She challenged me in every way possible, but it gave us both an opportunity to grow.

Figuring her out was a puzzle to me, and we made a lot of progress in just being able to build rapport by playing in whatever way made sense to her. As the pandemic continued, we did virtual therapy, eventually switching to in-person therapy. We made my office her safe place where she could weekly come and play and build a trusting connection with me. As we built trust, she was able to use sand tray play to give me an insight to her internal world, her struggles and how she saw things, and this helped me so much in knowing how to support her when she verbally couldn’t tell me what was wrong and how she felt. The sand tray play helped her develop language and use third person characters to express feelings and be able to start to trust not only herself, but me as well.

As she built resiliency, language and awareness of her own feelings, I was able to start doing EMDR* resourcing with her. I introduced this tool to help her become more connected to feelings she wanted to feel like bravery, calmness and safety by using her safe place imagery when needed, and she used these tools to become stronger. I saw her bloom into a more secure, more talkative little girl, and then when we felt she was ready, she reprocessed her strongest traumatic memory.

Being in a room with her and helping her desensitize the strongest memory she had was so powerful in ways that words cannot explain. I watched her process and grieve and reminded her that she was okay as I guided her through the end of her processing. This was a huge win for her and for me because she trusted me enough to be able to re-experience something so unimaginable in order to heal from it. (This was also my first in-person EMDR session since I had been trained virtually! 😊)

To read more about Emily’s incredible healing journey and how she is doing today, visit our blog.

*EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing and is an evidence-based treatment for helping clients work through traumatic memories and manage their body’s response to those memories.

By: Taylor Edmunds, Forensic Interviewer

The Forensic and Advocacy Services (FAS) team would like to highlight Detective Niznik and Detective Banda from the Des Plaines Police Department and Jaclyn Lantz from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for their efforts in a recent guilty plea that resulted in 14-year prison sentence.

As the Advocate assigned to the case, I witnessed the dedication that our Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) had when prosecuting the offender. This case involved a girl aged 13-15 who disclosed sexual abuse by her stepfather. This abuse included many common techniques seen in abuse cases such as grooming, which included buying the child items to keep her silent. Once the child outcried about the abuse, law enforcement and DCFS were made aware and acted with precision and intention to apprehend the offender and keep this child safe.  

Trauma Therapist Cara Liace provided therapy services to this child, helping the child find their inner strength and resources for coping with the challenges that come along with court proceedings. Cara provided support for both child and caregiver throughout their time in CAC therapy services. Thank you, Cara, for your continued support and for helping to prepare this child for court proceedings.  

Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) Jaclyn Lantz worked with the child and caregivers to prepare them for a potential trial. ASA Lantz provided this family with transparency and made herself available to answer all questions they may have had. Although the case did not end with a trial, ASA Lantz still set expectations for court proceedings and encouraged the child to write a victim impact statement, which gives the child a way to speak on her own experience as a victim and to explain to the courtroom how this experience impacted her life. Throughout this process, ASA Lantz provided this child with support and trauma-informed care that is often dismissed within the courtroom.  

The FAS team is so thankful to have such incredible members of the MDT working to care for and empower children who have survived such abuse and help them build resiliency to live healthier lives.

One final note -- Congratulations to Detective Richard Niznik on your retirement from the Des Plaines Police Department. The Children’s Advocacy Center would like to thank you for your dedication to this work and for helping victims throughout your career on the force.  

We want to send a special shout out to Hyatt Hotels Corporation for adopting 22 CAC families this holiday season! Thank you for your incredible generosity and for making this season extra special. (Pictured are Hyatt's volunteer shopper elves along with CAC's own Megan Younker, Development Coordinator - top right photo, front row center - and Valerie Cifuentes, Bilingual Trauma Therapist, to Megan's right.)

www.cachelps.org | info@cachelps.org | 847-885-0100

Volume 44 | November 2023