Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Treatment in Sycamore and North Aurora IL
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If you are interested in counseling for Domestic Violence and/or Sexual Assault, call OakHeart at 630-570-0050 or 779-201-6440 or email us at [email protected]. We have counselors, psychologists, and social workers available to help you at one of our locations in North Aurora, IL, Sycamore, IL, and/or via Telehealth Online Therapy Services serving Kane County, DeKalb County, Dupage County, and beyond.
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If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Resources are at the bottom of the page. You Are Not AloneWhat happened to you matters. Whether the abuse or assault occurred recently or years ago, and whether or not you have ever told anyone about it, your experience is valid and your responses to it make sense. Many survivors carry guilt, shame, fear, or self-blame long after the events themselves. Those feelings are common, and they are not evidence that you did anything wrong. Healing is possible, and therapy can help.
At OakHeart, we provide survivor-centered, trauma-informed care for adults and adolescents affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, stalking, coercive control, and other forms of interpersonal violence. We believe you, we will move at your pace, and we will never pressure you to share more than you are ready to share. Understanding Domestic ViolenceDomestic violence, also called intimate partner violence, is a pattern of behavior used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another. It can occur in dating, marital, and post-separation relationships, and it affects people across every demographic, including men, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, older adults, and people of every race, faith, income level, and education background.
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The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that approximately 10 million people in the United States are physically abused by an intimate partner each year, and that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men will experience severe intimate partner physical violence during their lifetime. These numbers likely underestimate the true scope, as many survivors do not report.
Physical violence is what most people picture when they think of domestic violence, but physical harm is only one part of the pattern. Many survivors experience abuse without ever being hit. The categories below reflect common tactics in coercive and controlling relationships:
Emotional and Psychological Abuse
Constant criticism, name-calling, humiliation, gaslighting (making you doubt your memory or perception), silent treatment, threats, intimidation, and using your vulnerabilities against you.
Isolation
Cutting you off from family, friends, coworkers, or support systems; monitoring who you see and where you go; creating conflict that drives loved ones away; controlling your phone or social media.
Financial Abuse
Controlling access to money, preventing you from working or sabotaging your job, running up debt in your name, hiding financial information, or making you account for every dollar spent.
Reproductive and Sexual Coercion
Pressuring or forcing sexual activity, refusing to use protection, sabotaging birth control, pressuring pregnancy or abortion, or using sex as a weapon of control.
Digital Abuse and Surveillance
Using technology to monitor, control, or intimidate. Many couples and families share locations, calendars, or passwords by mutual agreement, and that is not abuse. What makes digital behavior abusive is the absence of genuine consent, the presence of one-sided monitoring, or the use of technology to track, punish, or control. Examples include tracking your location without your knowledge or against your wishes, demanding passwords and accessing your accounts, reading your messages and emails, using smart home devices to surveil you, and posting or threatening to post private images.
Threats and Intimidation
Threatening to harm you, children, pets, family members, or themselves; displaying weapons; destroying property; using size or presence to frighten you.
Physical Violence
Hitting, slapping, shoving, choking, restraining, or any other form of physical harm. Strangulation (even brief) is a particularly dangerous sign that risk of serious injury or death has escalated.
Using Children
Threatening to take custody, using visitation to monitor or harass, undermining your parenting, or involving children in the abuse.
A note about safety planning: The most dangerous period in an abusive relationship is often the time when someone is preparing to leave. If you are considering ending an abusive relationship, a domestic violence advocate can help you build a personalized safety plan before, during, and after leaving. Organizations like Safe Passage and Mutual Ground offer this service free of charge and confidentially.
Physical violence is what most people picture when they think of domestic violence, but physical harm is only one part of the pattern. Many survivors experience abuse without ever being hit. The categories below reflect common tactics in coercive and controlling relationships:
Emotional and Psychological Abuse
Constant criticism, name-calling, humiliation, gaslighting (making you doubt your memory or perception), silent treatment, threats, intimidation, and using your vulnerabilities against you.
Isolation
Cutting you off from family, friends, coworkers, or support systems; monitoring who you see and where you go; creating conflict that drives loved ones away; controlling your phone or social media.
Financial Abuse
Controlling access to money, preventing you from working or sabotaging your job, running up debt in your name, hiding financial information, or making you account for every dollar spent.
Reproductive and Sexual Coercion
Pressuring or forcing sexual activity, refusing to use protection, sabotaging birth control, pressuring pregnancy or abortion, or using sex as a weapon of control.
Digital Abuse and Surveillance
Using technology to monitor, control, or intimidate. Many couples and families share locations, calendars, or passwords by mutual agreement, and that is not abuse. What makes digital behavior abusive is the absence of genuine consent, the presence of one-sided monitoring, or the use of technology to track, punish, or control. Examples include tracking your location without your knowledge or against your wishes, demanding passwords and accessing your accounts, reading your messages and emails, using smart home devices to surveil you, and posting or threatening to post private images.
Threats and Intimidation
Threatening to harm you, children, pets, family members, or themselves; displaying weapons; destroying property; using size or presence to frighten you.
Physical Violence
Hitting, slapping, shoving, choking, restraining, or any other form of physical harm. Strangulation (even brief) is a particularly dangerous sign that risk of serious injury or death has escalated.
Using Children
Threatening to take custody, using visitation to monitor or harass, undermining your parenting, or involving children in the abuse.
A note about safety planning: The most dangerous period in an abusive relationship is often the time when someone is preparing to leave. If you are considering ending an abusive relationship, a domestic violence advocate can help you build a personalized safety plan before, during, and after leaving. Organizations like Safe Passage and Mutual Ground offer this service free of charge and confidentially.
Understanding Sexual Assault
Sexual assault is any sexual contact or behavior that occurs without clear, voluntary consent. This includes rape, attempted rape, unwanted sexual touching, forced or coerced sexual acts, sexual contact with someone who cannot consent due to age, intoxication, disability, unconsciousness, or fear, and being forced to perform sexual acts on another person.
According to RAINN, an estimated 443,635 people age 12 and older experience sexual violence each year in the United States. More than half of female rape survivors and nearly 1 in 3 male survivors report that an intimate partner was the perpetrator. A majority of sexual assaults are committed by someone the survivor knows, such as a friend, partner, family member, acquaintance, or coworker.
What happened to you was not your fault. This is true regardless of:
Freezing, dissociating, or complying during an assault are common nervous system responses, not consent. Many survivors experience tonic immobility (the freeze response) during an assault and later feel confused or ashamed about it. This is a biological survival response, not a failure on your part.
Sexual assault includes experiences that may not fit what people typically picture, including:
According to RAINN, an estimated 443,635 people age 12 and older experience sexual violence each year in the United States. More than half of female rape survivors and nearly 1 in 3 male survivors report that an intimate partner was the perpetrator. A majority of sexual assaults are committed by someone the survivor knows, such as a friend, partner, family member, acquaintance, or coworker.
What happened to you was not your fault. This is true regardless of:
- Whether you had been drinking or using substances
- What you were wearing
- Whether you said "yes" to something else earlier
- Whether you froze, went along, or did not fight back
- Whether you were in a relationship with the person
- How much time has passed since the assault
Freezing, dissociating, or complying during an assault are common nervous system responses, not consent. Many survivors experience tonic immobility (the freeze response) during an assault and later feel confused or ashamed about it. This is a biological survival response, not a failure on your part.
Sexual assault includes experiences that may not fit what people typically picture, including:
- Assault by a current or former partner or spouse
- Assault that occurred when you were a child
- Assault that occurred while you were incapacitated
- Coerced sexual activity under threat or pressure
- Unwanted sexual contact that did not involve penetration
How Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Affect Mental Health
Surviving interpersonal violence can profoundly affect how you feel, think, sleep, relate to others, and move through the world. Common responses include:
These responses are not signs of weakness or brokenness. They are understandable reactions to experiences that no one should have had to go through, and they can improve with the right support.
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD, including intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and avoidance
- Depression, hopelessness, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide
- Anxiety, panic attacks, and constant fear or dread
- Insomnia and sleep disturbances
- Dissociation, emotional numbing, or feeling disconnected from yourself or your body
- Shame, self-blame, and damaged self-esteem
- Difficulty trusting others or forming safe relationships
- Changes in sexual functioning or intimacy
- Substance use as a way of coping
- Chronic physical symptoms, pain, and health problems
These responses are not signs of weakness or brokenness. They are understandable reactions to experiences that no one should have had to go through, and they can improve with the right support.
Our Approach at OakHeart
We provide trauma-informed, evidence-based care tailored to each survivor's needs, history, and goals. Our work is grounded in a few core commitments:
We move at your pace. You will never be required to share details before you are ready. Some survivors want to talk through what happened in depth, and others want to focus on current symptoms, relationships, or functioning. Both paths are valid.
We validate your experience. Self-doubt, minimization, and questioning whether "what happened was really that bad" are common after abuse and assault. We do not ask you to prove your experience was serious enough.
We use treatments that work. The therapies we offer are supported by strong research for trauma recovery, and we adapt them to your individual situation.
We respect your autonomy. For adult clients, decisions about whether to stay, leave, report, press charges, reconnect with family, or make any other major life choice belong to you. Our role is to help you think clearly and process what you are carrying, not to direct your life. For minors, we recognize that some decisions involve parents, guardians, and legal obligations such as mandated reporting, and we will be transparent with you and your family about what that looks like while still centering your voice and experience in the work.
We move at your pace. You will never be required to share details before you are ready. Some survivors want to talk through what happened in depth, and others want to focus on current symptoms, relationships, or functioning. Both paths are valid.
We validate your experience. Self-doubt, minimization, and questioning whether "what happened was really that bad" are common after abuse and assault. We do not ask you to prove your experience was serious enough.
We use treatments that work. The therapies we offer are supported by strong research for trauma recovery, and we adapt them to your individual situation.
We respect your autonomy. For adult clients, decisions about whether to stay, leave, report, press charges, reconnect with family, or make any other major life choice belong to you. Our role is to help you think clearly and process what you are carrying, not to direct your life. For minors, we recognize that some decisions involve parents, guardians, and legal obligations such as mandated reporting, and we will be transparent with you and your family about what that looks like while still centering your voice and experience in the work.
Treatment Approaches We Offer
Our clinicians draw from a range of trauma-informed, evidence-based approaches. The right fit depends on your symptoms, preferences, history, and goals, and many clients benefit from an integrated approach that combines elements of several therapies.
Humanistic and Person-Centered Approaches honor your inherent worth, autonomy, and capacity for growth. These approaches prioritize the therapeutic relationship, emphasize empathy and unconditional positive regard, and support you in reconnecting with your own voice and values after experiences that may have silenced or diminished them.
Strengths-Based Therapy focuses on the resilience, resources, and capacities you already have, rather than framing healing as fixing what is broken. Survivors have often drawn on tremendous strength simply to survive. Strengths-based work helps you recognize and build on those capacities as you move forward.
Attachment-Based Therapy recognizes that interpersonal violence often occurs within relationships that were supposed to be safe, and that those experiences shape how we connect with ourselves and others. Attachment-based work explores early and current relational patterns, helps you understand your responses to closeness and conflict, and supports the development of safer, more secure ways of relating.
Mindfulness-Based Approaches cultivate present-moment awareness and a non-judgmental relationship with your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. For survivors, mindfulness can help with grounding during flashbacks or dissociation, reducing reactivity, and reconnecting with the body in a safe, gradual way.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) addresses the thoughts, behaviors, and emotional patterns that maintain depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. For survivors, CBT can help untangle self-blame, shift unhelpful beliefs, and build coping skills for daily functioning.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a structured, time-limited therapy specifically developed for PTSD and widely used with sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. CPT helps you identify and work through "stuck points," the beliefs about the trauma, yourself, and the world that keep you locked in distress (for example, "it was my fault," "I can't trust anyone," or "I should have known").
Exposure-Based Therapies, including Exposure and Response Prevention and Prolonged Exposure (PE), help survivors gradually and safely approach trauma-related memories, situations, and feelings that have been avoided. Avoidance often protects us in the short term but maintains fear and distress over time. Exposure work, done at your pace with clinician support, can reduce the power these memories and triggers hold over you.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) uses structured bilateral stimulation while processing traumatic memories to help the brain integrate and store them differently. Many survivors find EMDR effective, especially when verbal processing feels too difficult.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps survivors build psychological flexibility, make room for difficult emotions without being controlled by them, and reconnect with personal values. ACT supports moving toward a meaningful life even while carrying painful experiences.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills can be especially helpful for survivors struggling with intense emotions, self-harm urges, relationship difficulties, or dissociation. DBT combines acceptance and change strategies, teaching skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
All of our work is grounded in a trauma-informed framework, meaning we recognize how trauma affects the nervous system, relationships, and sense of self, and we structure treatment around safety, choice, collaboration, and respect for your pace.
Humanistic and Person-Centered Approaches honor your inherent worth, autonomy, and capacity for growth. These approaches prioritize the therapeutic relationship, emphasize empathy and unconditional positive regard, and support you in reconnecting with your own voice and values after experiences that may have silenced or diminished them.
Strengths-Based Therapy focuses on the resilience, resources, and capacities you already have, rather than framing healing as fixing what is broken. Survivors have often drawn on tremendous strength simply to survive. Strengths-based work helps you recognize and build on those capacities as you move forward.
Attachment-Based Therapy recognizes that interpersonal violence often occurs within relationships that were supposed to be safe, and that those experiences shape how we connect with ourselves and others. Attachment-based work explores early and current relational patterns, helps you understand your responses to closeness and conflict, and supports the development of safer, more secure ways of relating.
Mindfulness-Based Approaches cultivate present-moment awareness and a non-judgmental relationship with your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. For survivors, mindfulness can help with grounding during flashbacks or dissociation, reducing reactivity, and reconnecting with the body in a safe, gradual way.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) addresses the thoughts, behaviors, and emotional patterns that maintain depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. For survivors, CBT can help untangle self-blame, shift unhelpful beliefs, and build coping skills for daily functioning.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a structured, time-limited therapy specifically developed for PTSD and widely used with sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. CPT helps you identify and work through "stuck points," the beliefs about the trauma, yourself, and the world that keep you locked in distress (for example, "it was my fault," "I can't trust anyone," or "I should have known").
Exposure-Based Therapies, including Exposure and Response Prevention and Prolonged Exposure (PE), help survivors gradually and safely approach trauma-related memories, situations, and feelings that have been avoided. Avoidance often protects us in the short term but maintains fear and distress over time. Exposure work, done at your pace with clinician support, can reduce the power these memories and triggers hold over you.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) uses structured bilateral stimulation while processing traumatic memories to help the brain integrate and store them differently. Many survivors find EMDR effective, especially when verbal processing feels too difficult.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps survivors build psychological flexibility, make room for difficult emotions without being controlled by them, and reconnect with personal values. ACT supports moving toward a meaningful life even while carrying painful experiences.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills can be especially helpful for survivors struggling with intense emotions, self-harm urges, relationship difficulties, or dissociation. DBT combines acceptance and change strategies, teaching skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
All of our work is grounded in a trauma-informed framework, meaning we recognize how trauma affects the nervous system, relationships, and sense of self, and we structure treatment around safety, choice, collaboration, and respect for your pace.
What to Expect in Therapy
The first several sessions typically focus on getting to know you, understanding what brought you in, and assessing your current safety, symptoms, and support. Together you and your therapist will develop a treatment plan. You will always have input into the direction of your care.
If you are currently in an abusive relationship, our priority early in treatment will be safety planning and stabilization. Trauma processing work is most effective when basic safety and stability are in place, though other supportive work can begin immediately.
There is no set timeline for healing. Some clients work with us for a few months on a specific issue, while others stay longer to address layered or longstanding trauma. Both are valid paths.
If you are currently in an abusive relationship, our priority early in treatment will be safety planning and stabilization. Trauma processing work is most effective when basic safety and stability are in place, though other supportive work can begin immediately.
There is no set timeline for healing. Some clients work with us for a few months on a specific issue, while others stay longer to address layered or longstanding trauma. Both are valid paths.
Frequently Asked Questions
I was assaulted or abused a long time ago. Is it too late for therapy to help?
No. Many survivors come to therapy years or decades after the events themselves, often because something in current life has brought the past forward (a new relationship, becoming a parent, a medical experience, a loss). Meaningful healing is possible regardless of how much time has passed.
What if I am still in the relationship?
You are welcome in therapy whether you are currently in an abusive relationship, preparing to leave, recently separated, or years removed. Early sessions will include safety planning and stabilization, and your therapist can connect you with domestic violence advocates at Mutual Ground or Safe Passage for additional support.
Is telehealth a safe option for me?
Telehealth works well for many survivors, but a private location is essential. For clients who live with an abuser, telehealth from home may not be safe or possible. Your therapist can help you think through the safest option, which may include in-person sessions or using a private space outside the home.
No. Many survivors come to therapy years or decades after the events themselves, often because something in current life has brought the past forward (a new relationship, becoming a parent, a medical experience, a loss). Meaningful healing is possible regardless of how much time has passed.
What if I am still in the relationship?
You are welcome in therapy whether you are currently in an abusive relationship, preparing to leave, recently separated, or years removed. Early sessions will include safety planning and stabilization, and your therapist can connect you with domestic violence advocates at Mutual Ground or Safe Passage for additional support.
Is telehealth a safe option for me?
Telehealth works well for many survivors, but a private location is essential. For clients who live with an abuser, telehealth from home may not be safe or possible. Your therapist can help you think through the safest option, which may include in-person sessions or using a private space outside the home.
OakHeart Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Counselors, Psychologists, and Social Workers
Local Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Resources
Kane County and Aurora Area
Mutual Ground 24-hour hotline: 630-897-8383 Domestic violence and sexual assault services, emergency shelter, counseling, legal and medical advocacy. mutualground.org
DeKalb County and Sycamore Area
Safe Passage 24-hour call hotline: 815-756-5228 24-hour text line: 815-393-1995 DeKalb County's domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center, providing shelter, counseling, legal and medical advocacy, and prevention education. safepassagedv.org
Mutual Ground 24-hour hotline: 630-897-8383 Domestic violence and sexual assault services, emergency shelter, counseling, legal and medical advocacy. mutualground.org
DeKalb County and Sycamore Area
Safe Passage 24-hour call hotline: 815-756-5228 24-hour text line: 815-393-1995 DeKalb County's domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center, providing shelter, counseling, legal and medical advocacy, and prevention education. safepassagedv.org
National Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Resources
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) | thehotline.org
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) | rainn.org
NCADV: ncadv.org
StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-762-8483 | strongheartshelpline.org
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth): 1-866-488-7386
Love Is Respect (dating abuse, teens and young adults): 1-866-331-9474 or text LOVEIS to 22522
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) | rainn.org
NCADV: ncadv.org
StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-762-8483 | strongheartshelpline.org
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth): 1-866-488-7386
Love Is Respect (dating abuse, teens and young adults): 1-866-331-9474 or text LOVEIS to 22522
