"Now my life is full. Back then, when I started your program, I never thought my life could be like this. I had hoped and I had dreamed, but I never believed it could be like this. Because of you, I value myself as a person."

The Oasis Program offers group therapy to people who have been affected by incest and child sexual abuse. The Oasis program model strives to increase the healthy functioning of families who participate in the program therapy groups, and help children and non-offending parents or caregivers incorporate the experience of the sexual abuse into their lives in a manner that reduces the short-term and long-term effects, as well as the cycle, of sexual abuse. A second goal of the program is to help non-offending parents and caregivers learn more effective and protective strategies to better parent their child.

Oasis has groups for children and teens, ages 5-18, who have been sexually abused. These children and teens meet with others their own age, and play therapy is included in the children’s groups to help them learn, process their feelings and have fun. Groups are also available for their non-offending parents and caregivers, and Oasis offers separate groups for male and female adult survivors of abuse. Groups meet weekly, offer support from peers, and are led by professional therapists, to provide structure and guidance. Group participation can reduce isolation and help in healing from the aftereffects of sexual abuse.

Therapy groups are offered in cycles, with four cycles per year of between 8 and 12 groups. Staff therapists in the program are active in the development and maintenance of services in Dane County’s child sexual abuse prevention and treatment network.