About Jan Hindman
Jan Hindman studied and researched the problem of sexual abuse for thirty-four years, working with both sexual offenders and sexual victims through mental health endeavors, the educational realm, as well as private practice. She served in many national endeavors, most notably the Advisory Board of the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, the National Network for Juvenile Sex Offenders, and the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, as well as many editorial boards and professional advocacy groups concerning victim study. She was a member of the Oregon Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force, holding chairmanship of the Offender Management Committee as well as being on Board of Directors for the Oregon Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, where she presided as chapter president. Providing expertise and enthusiasm, Jan Hindman served as a private consultant for many organizations and agencies throughout the United States regarding treatment planning, program organization, and ethical considerations concerning sexual victimization. In 1973, Jan Hindman secured a Masters Degree in Special Education with a specialty in emotionally disturbed adolescents, and since most of her first classroom of students were sexually abused, the accidental journey began.
Through her clinical private practice — It's About Childhood at The Hindman Foundation — Jan Hindman developed and directed a victim-centered incest treatment program for sex offenders and their families, focusing on a unique concept of restitution therapy. Through that same clinical endeavor, she developed and directed a day treatment program within the Oregon prison system, providing orientation, assessment, and treatment to sexual offenders being released into vulnerable communities. Additionally, Jan Hindman implemented a juvenile sexuality program, culminating in the creation of the "Juvenile Culpability Assessment," a publication designed to improve intervention strategies for all sexually- acting children, rejecting the idea that one size fits all. For victims, her research regarding victim trauma resulted in the development of comprehensive sexual victim trauma assessments, challenging traditional myths about therapy by creating innovative research-based approaches to victim recovery.
In addition to her clinical work, Jan Hindman was a trainer since 1980, lecturing in every state, as well as most provinces in Canada. She provided instruction and education to a variety of audiences such as state police academies, judges and prosecutors, child advocacy centers, child protection agencies, mental health centers, correctional institutions, rape crisis centers, foster parent programs, and residential centers for abused and neglected children.
Through a private publishing company, AlexAndria Associates, Jan Hindman developed numerous articles, pamphlets, and books that complemented her lectures and clinical expertise. Beginning in 1983, A Very Touching Book was written as a book for opening communication between children and adults regarding sexual abuse. Following nearly 10 years of study, she published Just Before Dawn, providing new reflections in the assessment and treatment of sexual victimization. A companion book, The Mourning Breaks — 101 Treatment Activities For Sexually Abused Children, was written to provide innovative techniques in healing the tragedy of sexual abuse. For law enforcement and child protection agencies, Jan Hindman developed a protocol for interviewing children suspected of sexual abuse, and her publication Step By Step, Sixteen Steps Toward Legally Sound Investigations has been used in police academies and law enforcement training centers throughout the United States. Jan Hindman also published numerous articles, reviews, and book chapters regarding multidisciplinary responses to sex abuse, sex offender management in communities, and strategies for sexual victim healing.
Most importantly, Jan Hindman recently published There Is No Sex Fairy — To Protect Our Children From Becoming Sexual Abusers, completing her twenty-year-old goal of providing a resource that addresses the sexual abuse problem at its source — teaching adults how to teach sexual respect to children.
Jan Hindman was fun and she liked to dance close.
Jan Hindman passed away September 25, 2007, and she will be missed by many.