How old are you?
If under 18...
Firstly, because if you’re in the USA, in most states teens have the right to consent to outpatient mental healthcare (without their parent’s consent needed) but the age varies state by state. Only 6 states require parental approval. The rest are usually in the 13-16yo range.
You can look at the following table and find out your state laws, below.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393016/table/T1/?report=objectonly
If the table doesn’t load, it can be found on page 10 >
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393016/#!po=29.6875
That doesn’t mean your parents are obligated to
pay for therapy, however. But services which support teens through rape, domestic violence, and other trauma often expect that. Either the services they offer are free (like through schools, teen-outpatient-programs in hospitals, charity outreach, victims services -through your local police or courts, but you don’t have to report the rape in order to be put in contact with victims services- sexual assault advocacy, religious groups. Boys&Girls Club, etc.) or they help teens apply for medical grants in order to access more traditional services.
To be very clear, if you’re still a minor, I am NOT recommending that you lie to your parents, nor seek treatment behind their backs. Just because something is legal or legally protected, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. It was legal for me to get my drivers license at 16. My parents disallowed that. I chose to respect their decision (I argued it, but obeyed),
and found other ways to get to where I needed to go... that accomplished what both of us wanted (my going places for me, and my not driving there, for them).
Some parents shouldn’t be trusted to raise goldfish, much less children. Others are fantastic people who deeply love their kids, but simply have different views. I’m not living your life, don’t have to live with the consequence of your decisions, don’t know you, don’t know your parents, and don’t know your relationship with them. So there is no way on earth that I can weigh in on what’s right for you & yournfamily. That’s a decision you’ll have to make yourself.
I’m sharing the legal information with you because I don’t believe that ignorance leads to better decision making. Nor is somehow morally uphill.
Also because those selfsame resources for teen therapy/medical care have other avenues of support outside of therapy :D
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If your parents aren’t open to your seeing a therapist for sexual assault, regardless of whether you seek therapy on your own or not, would either of them be willing to do family therapy WITH you?
