The first assault is the abuse.
The second assault is what happens when survivors speak out.
Second Assault names the harm that occurs when survivors are met with disbelief, coercion, misdiagnosis, or institutional failure after disclosure.
Survivors often encounter systems that are not designed to protect them.
Psychiatric, legal, medical, and educational institutions can unintentionally, or systematically, reinforce harm.
This work examines those patterns and pushes for change.
Why this Matters?
For many survivors, the trauma does not end when the abuse stops.
When survivors seek help from systems meant to protect them, medical care, law enforcement, schools, courts, and mental health services, they may instead encounter disbelief, coercion, misdiagnosis, or neglect.
These responses can create a second assault: a form of institutional betrayal that deepens harm, delays healing, and silences survivors.
Preventing this harm requires systemic change.
The Second Assault Project works to advance trauma-informed policies, professional training, and survivor-centered practices that reduce retraumatization and promote accountability.
Studies suggest that as many as 90% of survivors experience secondary victimization when interacting with legal or institutional systems.
Second Assault was founded by Abigail Wade, a researcher in clinical forensic psychology with a background in neuroscience and public mental health.
Her work is shaped not only by academic training, but by lived experience navigating the very systems this platform examines.
This dual perspective informs a central goal: to make visible the patterns of harm that survivors encounter after disclosure, and to advocate for systems that respond with accountability, not retraumatization.
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