April's spring renewal, its nourishing rain and emerging sun after a long winter, evokes a feeling of starting over. How apropos in that sense is the choice of April as awareness month for two areas of persistent national concern: child abuse and sexual assault.

How does that connect with starting over? Directly. A chief difficulty with the experience of such intimate violence is that it can arrest the victim's mind in an awful stasis, creating triggers for a repeating cycle of mental trauma. With assaults during childhood, it can also arrest development.

So the goal in recovery is rather like spring, a renewal of life - a lighted path by which one may again move forward. How soon and steadily that happens depends in part on the degree and timing of aid and understanding a victim initially receives.

Organizations such as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), whose annual fundraising breakfast today supports volunteers who guide a child step by step through a confusing legal process in cases of abuse and neglect - try to help light that path, but they can't do it alone. Those early days can make or break recovery, as well as prosecution.

The law is slowly catching up to this complex picture. Wednesday's announcement of the Department of Justice's new "best practices" guidelines, to help law enforcement and medical personnel aid this process and achieve the goals of their professions, will help tremendously. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls it the SAFE Protocol.

During a decade of volunteering with rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence victims for the North Idaho Violence Prevention Center (whose fundraiser breakfast is June 4), I saw such a wide variety of knowledge, awareness, and approaches among responders. Most try earnestly, but it's complicated; some understand better and are thus more effective than others. Aside from technical evidence matters, that's the federal protocol's focus: psychological issues surrounding the forensic exam and related questioning by police and medical professionals.

These victims are like no other; their behaviors, mental and emotional reactions, and typical responses are very, very different from other crime victims. Their memories are spotty and the mind masks what it can't face, so their stories are often inconsistent. The mind, especially the young or teen-aged mind, has a limited and sporadic ability to cope with such intimate violence. Some cry uncontrollably; others seem deadpan, even lighthearted. Rape can and often does occur without visible bruising. It's all quite normal; there is no routine profile, except perhaps eventual exhaustion.

With few exceptions, this seems little understood. It doesn't mean they're lying, but they're doubted anyway. As soon as victims sense this, they tend to shut down, even take it back so they can just go home. Others are thus discouraged from coming forward. Perpetrators get away with it, free to hurt others.

Intended as a minimum standard, the guidelines emphasize that sexual assault victims' emotional and physical needs should take precedence over law enforcement considerations and be addressed first. They cite research that shows once these needs are addressed, victims open up and are more likely and more able to cooperate fully. According to the New York Times medical and law enforcement leaders have called these guidelines, "long overdue."

They also recommend rape victims be offered emergency contraception, which I have seen some doctors refuse in emergency room rape cases. I rarely saw it offered. The guidelines state those with moral objections should at minimum share where an emergency contraception pill may be obtained.

In the case of reluctant victims, the guidelines urge separation of police report and medical exam, to encourage health issues to be addressed and forensic evidence preserved for later. Some victims need a little time to face the full picture, but to be useful evidence must be obtained quickly, even when victims are afraid to make an official report.

This is tough stuff for everyone. These crimes rarely include witnesses, so they're very difficult to prosecute. They touch delicate aspects of life, personally and societally. Everyone is uncomfortable with sexual abuse/assault, but as uncomfortable as it may be for the rest of us to discuss or think about it, imagine how much more so for those who endured it. However, avoiding its full comprehension on all sides perpetuates these crimes, whose rates, unlike other violent crimes, are generally not declining.

One in four females and one in six males have or will go through it. About half are children and fewer than half of victims ever report. Most of them know their attackers. Someone you love is or will be part of those statistics.

That's why the shining light is so important, so these issues can not only be more effectively addressed, but also prevented. More awareness, less shame; bright sun to light the way for all facets of society. So we can all move forward in renewal, healthily and together.

The SAFE Protocol is at NCJRS.gov. Confidential, 24-hour help is available from NIVPC at (208) 664-9303. The rape crisis line is (208) 661-2522. For general information on these issues click "get info" at RAINN.org or email me for more referrals.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at sholehjo@hotmail.com.