At SACE, we believe people can heal. Although healing looks different for each individual, many people will choose to access counselling services at some point after an experience of sexual violence. We believe that it is important for you to understand your client rights if you choose to access counselling. As a client, you have the right to:
You have the right to be treated with respect and dignity. Because sexual violence is an abuse of power and trust, it is essential for your counsellor to treat you with respect and dignity and to earn your trust. This includes your right to access inclusive, non-discriminatory, and professional services regardless of age, race, gender, culture, language, religion, sexual orientation, or ability. SACE works to create an environment of inclusivity and cultural safety. If you are not sure about your counsellor’s experience working with your presenting concerns, you can ask them.
You have the right to consent to any part of treatment.
You have the right to privacy and confidentiality. All counselling by a regulated health care professional (counsellor, social worker, or psxychologist) is confidential. This means that the information shared with your counsellor will not be shared outside of the counselling session without your written permission.
Your right to privacy means you have the right to understand the information that is collected about you and to know how it is documented, stored and used. As a health care professional, your counsellor must follow a code of ethics that states how your information is collected and stored. This includes only documenting information that is needed to provide you with ethical services.
You have the right to understand the process of counselling. This includes understanding your counsellor’s approach to the counselling process (also known as their grounding theory or theoretical orientation), their professional experience (including licensing body), their fees (if applicable – at SACE, all our services are offered at no fee), if they are receiving supervision, and how to go about filing a complaint if you experience harm during the counselling process.
You also have the right to collaborate with your counsellor throughout your counselling experience. An example of collaboration is goal setting, which usually occurs early in the counselling process. Your counsellor will want to hear your ideas about what you would like to work on in counselling, and they will have some ideas about how to help you get there. Together, you will step forward into this part of your healing journey.
You have the right to understand the approach (modality) that your counsellor may use. There are lots of different approaches to counselling and some methods may feel like a better fit than others for a person or particular concern. Some of the approaches we use at SACE include trauma informed practice, person-centred counselling, feminist counselling, the tri-phasic model of trauma counselling, and somatic counselling approaches.
The time and effort to work through these stages of recovery will be different for everyone. It is important to note that counselling at SACE is brief counselling, and you may not work through all of these stages with your SACE counsellor. You can, however, continue this work on your own after counselling or continue your counselling journey with another counsellor outside of SACE.
You have the right to share your feedback about the counselling process. Feedback includes what you are liking, what you are not liking, and everything in between. Counselling is a collaborative process and your counsellor will want to know what is working and what could be changed to better serve you. You are the expert of your own experiences and what you need for healing, and counselling should feel safe and empowering enough to allow you to bring this inner wisdom forward. If you bring feedback to your counsellor and they do not address it, you also have the right to bring your concerns to their direct supervisor.
The improper exposure of a child to any sexual contact, activity, or behaviour. This includes all sexual touching, the invitation to touch, exhibitionism, exposure to pornography.
Forcing another individual, through violence, threats (physical or emotional), pressure, deception, guilt, to engage in sexual activities against their will.
A voluntary agreement between 2 or more people to engage in sexual activity. Consent must be clear, informed, voluntary, sober, act and person-specific, ongoing, mutual, active, and come directly from the individuals engaging in the sexual contact. It is impossible to get consent from children, though close-in-age and peer-experimentation exceptions exist for youth ages 12-15.
A society or environment in which obtaining consent and respecting boundaries is the norm, for both sexual contact and everyday activities.
The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.
An intersectional approach to service delivery that acknowledges that the root of sexual violence is power inequality and works to reduce barriers that groups and individuals face when seeking support and volunteer or employment opportunities.
When an intimate photo or video is shared or taken without the voluntary consent (read consent definition above) of the person in the photo or video (Source: savedmonton.com)
Person-first language recognizes that a person is more than any one experience and that labels are sometimes harmful. People who have experienced sexual violence may use terms like victim or survivor to describe themselves, or they may use words like offender or perpetrator to describe the person who harmed them. Terms that resonate for one person may not fit for another person for a variety of reasons, and SACE supports a person’s right to self-determine their identity and experience. This is why at SACE, we default to person-first language such as “person who experienced sexual assault”, or “person who used abusive behavior”, unless speaking with or about an individual who has identified how they would like their experience to be talked about.
A society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.
Sex trafficking is a form of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation is a crime and Canada has specific legislation in the Criminal Code (S. 279) and in the IRPA (Immigrant and Refugee Protection Action) (S. 117 & 118) to address all types of human trafficking (sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, organ, debt servitude) There are three elements to constitute human trafficking: Action + Means + Purpose.
Sexual abuse is most often used to refer to Child Sexual Abuse. To learn more about this, read the definition above or our section on Child Sexual Abuse.
Any form of sexual contact without voluntary consent, including unwanted: oral contact (kissing); sexual touching; oral-genital contact; and/or vaginal or anal penetration.
Any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.
Any unwanted comment, gesture, or action that is sexual in nature that makes someone feel afraid, embarrassed, uncomfortable or ashamed. The intention of the person doing the action doesn’t matter, it’s the negative impact the action has that makes something sexual harassment.
Sexual violence is an umbrella term that refers to any form of non-consensual sexual behavior, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and sexual violence facilitated through technology.
