Hill Country CARES offers persons with dual diagnosis the opportunity to enhance their recovery in both areas of mental health and chemical dependency through support and education. Please call our 24 hour hotline if you are need of help or more information about our services. Toll Free 1-888-621-0047

Trauma is the common link to largely unseen crippling and contagious damage done to someone's mental health. Trauma attacks individuals at the core, causing changes in brain chemistry that affects functioning, mental health, productivity at work and home, and relationships.

EXTERNALLY, TRAUMA AFFECTS:

• Billions lost in productivity in business & industry each year
• Violence in schools
• Hospitals and mental health systems impacted
• Cases clog courts, jails and prisons

INTERNALLY, TRAUMA AFFECTS:

• Broken families
• Emotional suffering, depression or even suicide
• Unable to have healthy relationships

Many women have found hope, healing and a voice in recovery. You can find support and strength from other women who have experienced battering. Formerly battered women have said:

"I no longer feel like I'm walking on egg shells."

"I can breathe."

"I went back to school, found a job, and can support myself and my children."

I feel good again."

• A female is raped every 2 minutes somewhere in the United States
• Rape is the most under-reported violent crime. In one major study, 42% of rape victims said they told no one about the assault. Only 5% reported to law enforcement.
• 33% of all sexual assaults that are reported to law enforcement agencies involve a victim under age 12; one if four of these victims of all sex crimes are under the age of 18.
• In 75-85% of child sexual abuse cases that are reported, the offender is a family member or someone known to the child's family. A child victim reveals the abuse to an average of NINE people before he or she is believed and helped.
• 9% of sexual assaults were committed by an offender with a traditional weapon, usually a knife or gun.
• A typical child sex offender will approach and/or assault 117 child victims in his or her lifetime.
• Research with sex offenders reveals that the primary criteria for choosing their victims were: 1. The availability of the victim at the time of the assault and 2. The likelihood of being able to escape without being caught.
• 60% of rape victims report that the assault took place in a home.
• In 20% of single-offenders rapes, the offender is under age 21; in 62% of "gang rapes" the rapists are under 21.
• 1 out of 7 female college students will be a victim of rape during her college years. 1 out of 12 male college students will commit or attempt rape, usually more than once.
• 4 out of 5 stalking victims are females. 94% of the female victims are stalked by males; 60% of the male victims are stalked by other males.
• In 1996, the average annual cost per prison inmate was $20,142, compared to $18,000 in 1990. The cost of sexual assault to Americans is an estimated $127 BILLION per year, the highest of all crimes.