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Help Us Make Waves!

5WAVES, launched in 2022, is the first 501(c)(3) nonprofit specifically dedicated to representing and serving those affected by sibling sexual trauma and abuse. We are committed to offering our online information and peer support services free of charge to individuals and families facing sibling sexual trauma or abuse. Here is what some have had to say:

"Thank you for existing."

"For so many years, I thought I was the only one this had ever happened to."

"The isolation and emptiness is absolutely debilitating."

"This group literally saved my life."

If PayPal asks you to confirm the address the donation is being sent to, please input info@5waves.org.

If you would like to speak with a member of our team about making a donation by other means than PayPal, please email info@5waves.org.

5WAVES, Inc. is organized and operated as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code, approved by the IRS.

The Difference You Can Make!

$25 hosts our websites for one month
$50 prints 500 cards, with QR code links to our websites and online support groups, for distribution at doctors offices, child advocacy centers and sexual assault crisis centers, & more
$125 sends one year's e-newsletters to 500 subscribers

$250 covers the cost of one teen to attend a professionally moderated online support group
$500 covers registration fees for one 5WAVES cofounder to attend a professional conference, to form collaborations and share the voices of lived experience with researchers, practitioners, students, and leaders in fields related to SST

$2000 would cover travel costs for one 5WAVES cofounder to attend a professional conference (see above)
$10,000 pays for a hybrid book contract, to publish an annotated anthology that bears witness to the lived experience of those affected personally by sibling sexual trauma
$20,000 would allow 5WAVES to hire its first part-time staff

To learn more about opportunities to support 5WAVES, please email info@5waves.org

5WAVES Future Goals

Awareness, Education, Prevention

Engage with the media to increase public awareness of the realities of sibling sexual trauma and abuse
Inform the public and reach out to survivors and families via social media
Create quick reference guides for professional development and training in fields that respond to sibling sexual trauma
Reach parents, schools and communities with awareness, strategies for prevention and early detection, and guidance on how to respond.

"Sibling sexual trauma is thought to be one of the most common forms of sexual harm to children. It devastates families and individuals like little else. Yet it is the least understood, least reported, least talked about of any kind of sexual violation."

~Brandy Black, siblingsexualtrauma.com

Support

"Five years ago, I Googled Sibling Sexual Abuse, and what popped up was three outdated articles from ten years ago. Even today the third search result is, ‘Is Sibling Sexual Abuse a thing?’ "

~Jane Epstein, TEDx Talk: Giving Voice to Sibling Sexual Abuse, January 2022

Provide scholarships for young people to attend a professionally moderated online support group with peers who have experienced sibling sexual trauma
Provide scholarships for families with a series of initial consultations with local licensed professionals to assess their unique situation and point them toward appropriate resources
Sponsor healing through writing workshops or healing retreats
Create a framework for a peer mentoring program, so that those who have faced sibling sexual trauma in themselves and/or their families can help guide and support others going through the process

Research

"Interventions with families who have experienced sibling sexual abuse are under-evaluated, and there are no evidence-based approaches to date."

~Peter Yates and Stuart Allardyce, Sibling Sexual Abuse: A Knowledge and Practice Overview, Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, January 2021

Seek funding for research for publication to answer basic questions such as:
- How common is sibling sexual trauma?
- What puts children at risk for sibling sexual abuse?
- What works to prevent it?
- What types of treatment are effective–at healing trauma, at preventing future abusive behavior, at restoring family functioning? Do they differ by gender, age, neurodivergence, and other factors?
- What factors should inform initial decisions after SST is discovered or suspected during childhood--such as sibling separation vs in-home safety planning, whether or not to enter the case into the criminal legal system, etc
Present at virtual and in-person conferences to share information with practitioners from all over the world.
Develop tools to guide professionals in responding effectively