If This is Your Story, You’re Not Alone
The pain of being sexually abused by your father cuts deeper than words can reach. It’s not just a wound — it’s a shattering of trust at the very place where safety and protection should have been absolute. For many daughters, this kind of betrayal is carried in the body, in relationships, and in the way you see yourself — even years or decades later.
You may look fine on the outside, but inside, the echoes of that harm can still shape your choices, your boundaries, and your sense of worth.
If you’re reading this, you know the pain of being traumatized by your father and maybe you’ve tried to move forward, yet the past still pulls at you. At Ronee Miller Counseling in Tribeca, NYC, you’ll find a space where your story is not too much, your pain is not too heavy, and you are never alone in your healing.
The EMOTIONAL Impact the trauma of a Father’s Sexual Abuse on Daughters
For many survivors, the effects do not fade with time. They can show up as difficulty trusting others, fear of intimacy, deep shame, self-blame, or a sense of being permanently “damaged.” Some find themselves in relationships that echo the harm they experienced, while others keep everyone at a distance.
These patterns aren’t flaws — they’re ways your mind and body learned to protect you. But they can also keep you from experiencing the safety, love, and joy you deserve
The Shattering Wound of Sexual Betrayal By A Father
When a father crosses the line into sexual harm, the very foundation of safety is shattered. The person who should have been the protector becomes the source of violation. For many daughters, this betrayal seeps into every corner of life — leaving a deep confusion about love, trust, and worth. It can create a painful split inside: one part longing for the father’s love, another carrying rage or terror, and still another shutting down to survive.
In our work together, these parts of you are never judged or rushed. You may find yourself feeling waves of grief, flashes of anger, or moments of numbness. All of it is welcome here. We slow down and listen closely — not only to your words, but to the feelings, sensations, and unspoken truths that rise in the room. As you begin to sense that I will not turn away from your pain, something starts to shift. The parts of you that have been silenced or hidden for decades begin to risk coming forward.
Healing does not mean forgetting or excusing what happened. It means reclaiming what was stolen — your right to feel safe in your own body, to trust your own voice, and to know that love does not harm. Session by session, we build a steady, grounded space where you can untangle the knots of betrayal and begin to see yourself not as what was done to you, but as the whole, worthy person you have always been.
.When Eating Disorders Have Roots in the Childhood Trauma of Paternal Sexual Abuse
If you’ve struggled with food, weight, or body image for as long as you can remember, you might already know it’s not just about the food. For many survivors of childhood sexual abuse, eating disorders become a way to cope with feelings that once felt too big, too unsafe, or too unbearable to face.
Sometimes restricting food, bingeing, or purging becomes a way to reclaim control when your control was stolen from you. Other times, changes in your body feel like a shield — an unconscious way to protect yourself from attention you never wanted. And for some, food becomes a comfort, a reliable source of soothing in a world that once felt unpredictable and dangerous.
If this is you, please know: there is nothing wrong with you. Your eating patterns may have been a creative, courageous way to survive in a situation you should never have had to endure. Healing is not about shame or blame — it’s about gently helping you reconnect with your body in safety, compassion, and trust.
HOW THE TRAUMA OF BETRAYAL BY HER FATHER Shapes A DAUGHTER’S Relationships and Choices
The harm of childhood sexual abuse doesn’t stop at the event itself — it ripples out into the ways we connect with others, and with ourselves. As children, we learn about love, trust, and boundaries from the adults around us. When that trust is violated by someone who was supposed to protect you, it can deeply shape how you relate to people later in life.
You might find yourself drawn to relationships that repeat old patterns, even when they hurt. You may feel unsafe trusting, or feel the need to keep a part of yourself hidden. Some survivors avoid closeness altogether; others cling tightly for fear of being left. Sometimes, we choose partners who echo the unpredictability or emotional unavailability we once knew, simply because it feels familiar.
This isn’t weakness — it’s the nervous system doing its best to navigate a world it learned was unsafe. The good news is, it can change. In the safety of a healing relationship, you can relearn what it means to trust, to set boundaries that protect you, and to choose connections that nourish your heart instead of hurting it.
Reclaiming WHAT WAS TAKEN FROM YOU
When something so personal has been violated, it’s not just the moment itself that’s stolen — parts of you can feel missing—pieces like trust, safety, intimacy, playfulness, and self-worth.
In our work together, we go gently toward those places — not to relive the pain, but to meet the parts of you that were left behind. I will be fully present with you in the moments when words are hard to find, helping you feel what was too overwhelming to face alone.
This isn’t about “fixing” you. It’s about honoring every part of you, and giving space for the love, safety, and tenderness you may never have been offered. As we stay together in those moments, the weight you’ve been carrying starts to shift, and what once felt unbearable becomes something you can hold — and eventually lay down.
Meeting Every Part of You With Compassion
You may have parts of yourself that are angry, ashamed, numb, or even protective of the one who hurt you. These are not flaws — they are survival strategies that helped you endure what no child should ever face.
Together, we approach each of these parts with compassion, patience, and respect. In our sessions, nothing is rushed. You set the pace. I help you listen to the parts of you that have never had a voice, allowing them to finally be heard, understood, and cared for:” seen, heard, and felt”
When these parts are no longer at war with one another, you begin to feel a deeper sense of peace and wholeness — not because the past is erased, but because you are no longer carrying it alone.
Breaking the Silence
One of the heaviest burdens for survivors is the silence — the feeling that no one can ever know what happened. This secrecy protects the abuser and isolates the victim. Speaking your truth in a safe, nonjudgmental space can be a turning point in your healing.When something as deeply violating as sexual abuse happens in childhood, the hurt often gets locked away in a part of you that had no safe place to bring it. As a little girl, you may have instinctively tucked it deep inside — not because you wanted to hide it, but because there was no one who could hold it with you. That silence was never weakness. It was your brilliance at surviving.
In healing, breaking the silence is not about forcing yourself to “tell the whole story” at once. It’s about letting your truth be witnessed, piece by piece, in a space where it will be met with compassion instead of judgment. Often, when we bring those hidden pieces into the light together, the shame that once felt unbearable begins to melt.
Breaking free happens as your body and heart start to feel the safety that wasn’t there before. In that safety, you may notice you can breathe a little deeper, feel a little more present, and begin to sense the strength that has been in you all along. It’s not about erasing the past — it’s about reclaiming the parts of you that never stopped longing for connection, love, and a life beyond the pain.
You don’t have to do it alone. In the right relationship, your story can finally be held, and you can finally feel what it’s like to be free.
The Grief That Heals
For daughters who were sexually abused by their fathers, grief can feel complicated. It’s not just the loss of innocence or safety — it’s the loss of the father you needed and deserved, the loss of trust in someone who was meant to protect you. Often, that grief stays hidden under layers of anger, numbness, or self-blame, because feeling it alone was simply too much for a child to bear.
In healing, grief is not something to push away — it’s something to be met, held, and honored. Grief is a natural and necessary emotion that, when felt in safety, has the power to transform. It’s the doorway through which the heart begins to release what it’s been carrying, and in doing so, makes space for new possibilities: for love, trust, and self-compassion.
Together, we approach grief gently. Sometimes it comes in waves, sometimes in quiet tears, sometimes in a deep exhale you didn’t know you’d been holding. When your grief is witnessed with care, you don’t drown in it — you move through it, and it moves you toward freedom.
Feeling the grief is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that your heart, once silenced, is finding its voice again.
At Ronee Miller Counseling, you are free to share as much or as little as you’re ready to. Your pace is respected. Your voice matters. I will be with you all the way. You are no longer alone!
An Invitation to Begin
If you are a daughter who has endured sexual abuse from your father, you have already survived the unthinkable. You do not have to survive the healing process alone.
At Ronee Miller Counseling in Tribeca, NYC, you’ll find a steady, compassionate presence — someone who will walk with you through the pain, the silence, and the shame, and toward a life that is no longer defined by what happened to you.
Your story matters. Your healing matters. And it’s never too late to reclaim the parts of you that are still waiting to be seen and loved.
📞 Call me today at (212) 349-6544 or visit Ronee Miller Counseling to begin.
Resources for Survivors
The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass & Laura Davi — A foundational guide offering practical tools and heartfelt support for survivors of child sexual abuse.
Cry the Darkness by Donna L. Friess — A deeply moving memoir of incest, remembered, reclaimed, and ultimately healed.
Finding Angela Shelton by Angela Shelton — A courageous personal journey of healing from sexual abuse within the family context.
In an Unspoken Voice by Peter A. Levine — Explores how trauma lives in the body and offers somatic paths to healing.
RAINN – Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse — A trusted article and portal offering understanding, compassion, and resources for survivors.
RAINN – National Sexual Assault Hotline — Free, confidential, and available 24/7 for survivors seeking support.
Survivors Healing Center — A nonprofit offering education, support services, and community healing for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (NAASCA) — National Association providing educational media and links to local support networks.
The Sexual Abuse and Assault Therapy Resource Guide — Professional guide offering direction for trauma-informed therapy and healing.
Healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Theoretical Model — A scholarly article exploring the healing processes of survivors.