DO SELF-HELP SUPPORT GROUPS HELP INCEST SURVIVORS?

Both male and female survivors of incest can be helped to heal. For many, Self-help groups are often the first step in seeking help for healing. Self-help groups are beneficial for the following reasons:

  • Members share their experiences with others who have had similar experiences.
  • Members learn they are not alone. Others have also felt the pain of silence.
  • Members realize they are not to blame. They were victimized by someone they trusted.
  • Members experience support in resolving past experiences and getting on with their lives.
  • Members find ways to cope by hearing how others cope.
  • Members build strength through sharing.
  • Members are able to put their abuse in the past, so that they are able to live in the present.

Incest Survivor Self-Help Groups can also be an effective complement to other services such as:

  • Personal Therapy and Counseling (where available).
  • Personal psychotherapy with licensed Psychotherapist
  • Trained Counselor with experience in counseling:
  • Incest or Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors
  • Spiritual Healing Counselor, with experience in counseling:
    • Incest or Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors

Participation in other self-help groups
focusing on various healing issues:

  • Alcoholics Anonymous
  • Narcotics Anonymous
  • Sexual Abuse Anonymous
  • And Other self-help support groups

 

INCEST SURVIVOR’S SELF – HELP GROUP

Facts about child sexual assault from No More Secrets; PROTECTING YOUR CHILD FROM SEXUAL ABUSE, by, Caren Adams and Jennifer Fay

  • Chances are that we all know someone who has been a victim, even if we are not aware of it.
  • Both boys and girl are victimized, though girls are more often than boys.
  • Young children, even preschoolers, are assaulted.
  • The numbers vary from study to study, but all are overwhelmingly high.
  • In the United States, at least 1 in 4 females are assaulted before reaching the age of 13.
  • 10% of the victims reported are boys.
  • At least 10% of children who are assaulted are under the age of 5.
  • From 30 to 45% of all children are sexually assaulted in some way before the age of 18

Incest Survivors Anonymous, a support group located in California, gives this definition of incest:

From the viewpoint of the survivor encompassing the emotional, mental, spiritual and/or physical damage done to the child . . .

Incest is a betrayal of trust, an overt and covert sexual contact or act which possibly includes: touching or non-touching, verbal seduction or abuse, intercourse, sodomy, anal intercourse, direct threats, implied threats, or other forms of abuse, between people who are closely related or perceived themselves to be closely related or in whom a child perceives trust; such as, mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparents, stepsiblings, half siblings, live-in lovers, brother, sister, neighbor, family friend, babysitter, or professionals such as: teacher, professor, school principal, nurse, doctor, orderly, therapist, social worker, minister, priest, nun, shopkeeper, scout leader, laborer, workman, pilot, military personnel, lawyer, judge, policeman, foster parent, politician, corporate executive, and any other occupation.

When this trust between a child and an older child, sibling, parent-figure, or other adult is violated, that act becomes incestuous. We put full responsibility on the initiator for whatever took place. The child’s age may range from new-born, preschool, school age, teenager, and older.

JOIN US FOR SUPPORT!
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME

Adapted from: Ravenswood Community Mental Health Center’s Consultation & Education Dept.