SIA 12-STEP SUPPORT GROUPMeeting Mondays at 7pm in the Clintonville Area of Columbus, OHFor Adult Male Survivors of Incest/Child Sexual Abuse |
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| STATISTICS: 1 out of 6 men in COLUMBUS, OH was sexually abused before the age of 16 | |
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We are Men Who Were Abused as Boys
We were sexually compromised: physically, mentally, emotionally. We were tools of pleasure for
people we either loved and respected OR feared - or both. We were taken advantage of. We were betrayed. And now we carry the baggage. After all these years...we STILL carry the baggage.
We are the survivors of familial incest or other childhood sexual abuse. We are one sixth of the male population. It is not unusual for us survivors to struggle with anger, shame, guilt and nagging questions about our sexuality, masculinity and gender identity. Many of us feel betrayed, isolated, helpless, alienated and alone. We lost our childhood and our innocence. It was brutally and selfishly taken from us and we cannot get it back. Watching a Movie, Reading a Book or Seeing a Story on the News...
That's all it takes to flash back to our own childhood, and it's like it's happening all over again. The visuals, the sounds, even the taste and smells associated with our abuse. And it's more than we can take. The emotions we
had buried so deep within RISE UP, sometimes in outbursts of RAGE, and other times in an uncontrollable
FLOOD of TEARS.
Shame
We feel shame. So much shame. Shame for something we did not do. Shame for something that was
done to us.
We are Lost Boys
Regardless of how old we are, how long we've been "adults", many of us continue to feel like little boys in the presence of any authority figure: boss, teacher, clergy, even people our own age or younger including our spouses, partners and friends.
And for so many of us, whether we self-identity as straight, gay or other, we struggle time and again with who and what we really are. We wonder if we really are "MEN" and find ourselves questioning what it really means to be a "man", anyway. Over the Years We Learned to Cope...
using methods which likely did us more harm than good.
Some of us became people-pleasers in an attempt to gain our own self respect by winning the approval of others we looked up to: our heroes, our role models, surrogate father figures, elders and peers. Some of us self-medicated with drugs or alcohol. Others took to hurting ourselves: beating ourselves up mentally, emotionally and physically: cutting, burning, banging our heads against the wall or pushing our fists through it. For some of us the self-harm was all just a rehearsal for suicide; testing the waters to see if we could really go through with it. For others, the cutting or other self-sabotage was a means of penance for sins we KNEW we must have committed that we would be forced to suffer as we did --- as we still do inside. And yet others of us simply surrendered. We accepted the idea that we were different from other boys, from other men. Having convinced ourselves that we must have deserved what happened to us, we continued to allow others in authority over us to have their way with us, to walk all over us, to treat us as doormats. None of that worked for us. In trying to cope, we wound up sabotaging ourselves; we ourselves creating even more pain and misery in our lives. And after all is said and done...after all these years...our lives are still a mess. So HERE We Are:
We are 1/6 of the male population. We are 1 out of 6 men living right here in metro Columbus, Ohio. As much as we may feel alone, we are NOT alone. YOU are NOT alone.
Together we can work through this and go from merely surviving to actually thriving. None of us are professional counselors. No licensed psychotherapists in the group. There is no agenda except to maybe get through this mess we call life, one day at a time. Like AA, we operate with anonymity. We listen to others tell their stories, and then they listen to us as we tell our stories and nothing said in the room leaves the room. And just like AA, we use 12 Steps and follow 12 Traditions. We call on a Higher Power, as we understand that to be, because we've tried to fix ourselves and it didn't work. We support and encourage one another, and we lean on one another to get us through from one week to the next. If this sounds like something that might help you where you're at right now, PLEASE JOIN US. If you've got questions, CONTACT US (short list of anticipated questions found HERE). And if you don't think the whole 12-Step/Higher Power thing is right for you, then please still try to get help somewhere. |
| Victims/Survivors ONLY ***NO PERPETRATORS*** | |||
| Meetings are open to survivors of incest/child sex abuse. For the emotional and psychological safety of this group, adult perpetrators of child abuse are not welcome to attend meetings, will not be tolerated and if present will be asked to leave. | |||
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Survivors of Incest Anonymous defines incest very broadly as a sexual encounter by any family member, family friend, clergy, another child or anyone that betrayed the child's innocence and trust. | ||
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One Sixth Columbus. All other content belongs to its respective owners. |
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