A Narrative Pastoral Involvement with Adolescent Girls who have experienced Sexual Abuse

The phenomenon of sexual abuse is a complicated matter that includes therapeutic as well as legal aspects and which is the result of the complex interaction between individual, social and environmental influences. The purpose of this research is to map the importance of hope therapy from an eschatological perspective in the healing process of adolescent girls who have experienced sexual abuse. This article focuses, in the first instance, on the understanding of the identity of a teenage girl from a theological anthropological perspective. Secondly, the focus shifts to what the phenomenon of sexual abuse entails, the impact of this form of abuse on how an individual understands her identity in Christ, as well as a narrative pastoral involvement with female adolescents who have experienced sexual abuse. Thirdly, the importance of a perspective of Christian hope, born from faith in God, as space and place for the praxis of God's committed involvement in the life-story and suffering of adolescent girls who have experienced sexual abuse, is highlighted. This research is portrayed by the metaphor of cartography and the mapping of the research journey occurs according to the five directives of the ABDCE approach to narrative research as developed and used by Julian Muller and others.