September's Newsletter Theme:
"The End is Just the Beginning"
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NAASCA Supports Survivors, Where the End of Their Abuse is Just the Beginning of Their Journey to Recovery!
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Meet This Month's NAASCA Volunteer!
Make a Difference for Others!
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a non profit 501(c)3
Because of you and our simple MISSION, more
kids are being protected, more adult survivors served!
NAASCA has a single purpose, to address issues related to childhood abuse and trauma including sexual assault, violent or physical abuse, emotional traumas and neglect .. and we do so from two specific perspectives
:
- educating the public, especially as related to getting society over the taboo of discussing childhood sexual abuse, presenting the facts that show child abuse to be a pandemic, worldwide problem that affects everyone
- offering hope for healing through numerous paths, providing many services to adult survivors of child abuse and information for anyone interested in the many issues involving prevention, intervention and recovery
Building a survivor / activist / professional community ... because
together we can do what we cannot do alone
.
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Welcome to the September 2019 NAASCA Newsletter
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter mailing list!
Please encourage others to get in touch by suggesting they
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This month's newsletter theme is:
"The End is Just the Beginning"
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Upcoming September Dates
Pain Awareness Month
Sexual Health Awareness Month
Baby Safety Awareness Month
Suicide Prevention Month
National Preparedness Month
Sept 9 – International Day of Peace
Sept 10 – World Suicide Prevention Day
Sept 25 – National Women’s Health and Fitness Day
Sept 28 – National Family Health and Fitness Day
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Dedicate your birthday to supporting NAASCA
by Bill Murray
Recently, and all of a sudden, it was that time again .. my BIRTHDAY !!! .. (March 26, 1953)
It seems like this happens every year! LOL
There are numerous ways to support our truly unique organization.
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Or, if you prefer, join our
LinkedIn
group!
We're building a survivor / activist community!
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NAASCA's SCAN Shows Now on Three Platforms!
All our "Stop Child Abuse Now" talk radio shows are now available as 'on-demand' podcasts on three different platforms!
by Bill Murray
It's amazing, but NAASCA and our 'sister effort' LACP (Los Angeles Community Policing) will soon have produced 2800 "Stop Child Abuse Now" and "Community Matters This Week" talk radio shows!
We do our shows on BlogTalkRadio six-nights-a-week, all but Saturdays evenings, and each is recorded as it's being aired. It doesn't take long for the library to add up.
Now there are three ways to access these podcasts:
1. Directly through our
NAASCA web site
's 'ARCHIVES' by simply clicking on the episode's name (a number)
2. By using
APPLE Podcasts
for iPhone-style mobile devices – thanks to Dwight Hurych, North Carolina, for setting this up as a NAASCA volunteer!
3. Through
GOOGLE Podcasts
for those who use Android phones – thanks to Charm Isom-Asenime for explaining how to hear our shows on the GOOGLE Podcast platform, too
NAASCA's 'ARCHIVES' are accessed through the NAASCA website's HOME page where it says 'current schedule'. Each year is listed there.
Please see full details, including how to download the Apple and Google Podcast apps, on the NAASCA website page:
I am so pleased that NAASCA has increased its outreach through these two additional venues!
Please help us SHARE about these new platforms by spreading the word to as many survivors and advocates you can.
We hope this enhances our ability to execute our mission: educating the public about childhood abuse, and offering hope and healing to survivors.
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"The Start of a New Chapter"
September is a very special time of year. It is the beginning of a new chapter for most people. It is the start of the fiscal year. It is the start of a new school year. For those who celebrate the Jewish Holidays, September is often the start of a New Year. No matter how you look at the reason, September is a wonderful time to start a new chapter in your life.
As an adult survivor of child abuse, having a time in life designated to start a new chapter is an important piece of the healing puzzle. Imagine your life as a book. The beginning of the book introduces the characters that will be important players throughout the story (good, bad, or indifferent). Throughout the following chapters, conflict will ensue. Each player in the story will have to resolve this conflict, which is often done as old chapters draw to a close and new chapter begin.
Your life is this book. Whether you choose September or any other month throughout the year (your birthday, the holidays, an anniversary), it is essential to end one chapter of your life and begin the next chapter with hope and promise. As you embark upon a new chapter, it is a good idea to put in writing what issues you are looking to overcome in the following year. Think about forgiveness for yourself and others as you look to resolve the ultimate conflict within your personal story or book.
Take a moment to reflect on the chapter which you are closing as you begin the next. Eventually, you will find new chapters easier to begin as you begin to reach peace in your life. As adult survivors of child abuse, we are conditioned to expect the worst and fear letting go. This is not an easy process, however, it will be rewarding. Take pride in each day as you open your eyes and have a new reason to face the world. And remember, you are not alone. Your NAASCA family is here to help in any way we can. Starting a new chapter is never easy. However, leaving he old chapter behind is always wonderful.
Deb Ferguson
NAASCA volunteer
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Pastor Deborah Schleich -
Volunteer of the Month for September
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Pastor Deborah Schleich is an active member of NAASCA. She regularly posts on our
NAASCA.blog
and is a co-host once a month on the Q&A episodes. Pastor Deborah is the Senior Pastor at Agape Love, Love is Here Ministry, Pensacola, FL.
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NAASCA:
Hi, Pastor Deborah! Thank you for being here today for this interview. We appreciate your contributions to NAASCA and its goal of offering hope and healing to adult survivors of child abuse. Please tell us about your ministry.
Pastor Deborah:
I left the world of clinical mental health counseling as a Florida Licensed and Nationally Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in 1995 to train, learn and to go into ministry to help people the Lord's Way. I teach that humans are a tri-part being of Spirit, Soul and Physical Body. All three are important and each part/area needs care, healing and ministry. I believe in working with the other professions to accomplish a TOTAL healing for the person, and that Pastors need to be a part of the total team of leaders from around the world.
Mental health professionals have their own language, and spiritual guidance has its own language. Sometimes, people don't know what to ask. They've had experiences, but it's a hard subject to talk about. They look for spiritual help in addition to mental health help and physical health help. I know both the spiritual and the mental health languages. For example, I understand that some people don’t talk about their experiences of multiple personalities or having visions with a mental health professional, for fear of being labeled mentally ill and merely given medication. I know that these experiences are common among those who have survived childhood abuse and, although medication helps with the symptoms, spiritual counseling is also needed to heal the person’s Spirit. All three parts of the being need to be ministered for total healing of the person.
Platforms I have used for spiritual education, spiritual leadership, spiritual shepherding and spiritual outreach include a Market Place Church and personal spiritual ministry; social media such as a YouTube Channel, my website, podcasting, Zoom classes and international spiritual classes; and articles and blog posts with a variety of organizations, including NAASCA, helping people to recover from abuse and trauma.
NAASCA:
You have worked closely with Bill Murray and with NAASCA, which has grown into an international organization. What ideas do you have for a possible path for NAASCA as it continues to grow and expand?
Pastor Deborah
: We survivors grow up with a “code of silence”: not asking any questions of mental health professionals, who ask us to tell our story. But telling our story doesn't help; it keeps us “in our story” and not beyond it. We need a happy ending to our story. We need to show others there's light on the other side. Many survivors just relive the abuse, retraumatizing themselves, getting stuck. Retraumatizing an event is one form of PTSD. When asked “how does that make you feel?” you get stuck in your story.
Most survivors are stuck – how is that helping someone getting abused now? If you are still in your story, retraumatized, there's no happy ending. Mental health doesn't know what to do. Is there a happily-ever-after? Have something good come out of your story, help show others that there is an end, give hope – you are not just your story.
Substance abuse has a 12-step program that is proven to be effective. There should be a 12-step program for the mental health and recovery for adult survivors of child abuse. NAASCA could create such a 12-step program, with one step highlighted each month, starting in January 2020. The step could be listed in the monthly newsletter, there could be group discussions in the online Facebook group(s), and one Blog Talk Radio show per week could be dedicated to that month’s step. Monthly, NAASCA can recommend a book or a movie that could help its members, offer words of encouragement, and discuss in support groups as part of the healing process of all its members.
Some of my recommended books and videos: Days of Wine and Roses, Helen Keller story, Patty Duke story, Oprah Winfrey story, Sybil, 3 Faces of Eve, Vivian Lee story, A Beautiful Mind. Watch videos on YouTube. Stay with the classics, only free books from the library and free YouTube videos.
In addition, after a NAASCA volunteer goes through the 12-step program, the person becomes certified as a mentor for other survivors. NAMI’s peer-to-peer mentor training certification program could be modified to create a similar certification program for NAASCA.
NAASCA can step up to the challenge and provide a 12-step program and mentors for survivors, which help them add a spiritual component on top of the mental health and physical health help they are receiving. Reading or watching true stories of people who came out of their abuse stories, providing testimonies of good news and outcomes, offers words of encouragement to those seeking a way out of the quicksand.
NAASCA can help survivors answer questions like: Is there more to me than I know? Could a Higher Power help? How do I stop wallowing in my own childhood story? NAASCA can provide hope and help to survivors so they can overcome their adversity through a structured program and mentorship. Tell survivors they don’t have to waste their life being stuck; walk with us at NAASCA. We are a Beacon of Hope and Light to survivors throughout the world.
Look at the current level of the organization’s programs and services. Is NAASCA doing all that God has told us to do? NAASCA can help survivors not only become thrivers, but also overcomers.
NAASCA
: Thank you, Pastor Deborah, for your inspirational ideas! How can people contact you?
Pastor Deborah
: Pastor Deborah Schleich, 850-501-5040
NAASCA
: Thank you, Pastor Deborah!
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NAASCA's Grateful to All Our Members & Volunteers !
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We Need YOU!
We Need Each Other!
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Fighting For Kids,
Serving Adult Survivors
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Did you know that NAASCA is
entirely staffed by non-paid volunteers
including the Board of Directors?
All the services, programs, tools, resources, and social media efforts that we offer entirely
FREE
to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world are staffed by volunteers from our NAASCA family!
It literally would not be possible without
YOU
.
There are many ways you can volunteer with NAASCA. If you have a little time or a lot, your help is greatly appreciated and needed. Check out our list of available positions here:
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This was created for us by Terri Lanahan, Butte, Montana: NAASCA Secretary and Coordinator of Volunteers, author of
"
Hear My Voice
"
Here's a tool anyone can download and use as a help whenever making a presentation on child abuse and trauma. It's a set of some two dozen PowerPoint slides that one can show on a laptop, send in an email, or can project on a screen for a larger group. Activist members of the NAASCA family might want to use it to explain any number of aspects of child abuse and trauma.
Terri's FINAL PowerPoint presentation is located on NAASCA web site's '
Promotional Tools
' page and in our social media groups.
"
Show off NAASCA -- our mission, services and tools !
R
EMEMBER .. On the NAASCA web page you'll find links to
how to get
even
more great help
when making presentations or during fundraising:
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Have You Listened to Our Talk Radio Show Lately ?
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Sunday through Friday evenings we broadcast an internet-based live streaming talk show. This is one of the best
FREE
SERVICES we offer to our NAASCA members!
All shows start at
8pm EST
so that's
7pm CEN
,
6pm MTN
&
5pm PAC
.
We really want to hear from you!
Anyone can participate or just listen to the show by calling:
(646) 595-2118
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Are You a Survivor of Child Abuse Looking for Support?
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In need of support in your local community?
NAASCA provides listings for your local area in our
Recovery Groups and Services
page.
We have gathered ALL the English speaking recovery groups and services we can find,
not only in
North America but from around the world. This list can connect you with numerous agencies, therapy, support groups and other resources in your local area.
Looking for support after hours or from home?
Can't find a group you can get to easily or want to connect when it is after business hours? Needing a way to talk about your story but want to stay anonymous? We also provide a link to another separate listing for
Online Groups and Services
, for Internet-based recovery groups.
As you can imagine, keeping this listing current and updated is a huge task. You can help other survivors find the support they need.
Submit updates for the
Recovery Groups List
to Carolin O'Hara:
Submit any updates for the
Online Resource List
to Valerie:
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You are not alone, and never have to be, a day at a time!
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All members of NAASCA are part of our 'NAASCA family', and that's not just something we say. We care about each other and that includes YOU.
We want you to feel comfortable reaching out to any of our volunteers, with any of your questions about what NAASCA offers, or for help navigating the website.
Even if you simply want someone to talk to when you are dealing with a difficult moment in your recovery as a survivor... we are here for you.
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Some are listed as night owls, some as available 24/7, others are part of our International community, still others are young or helping some specific types of survivors. Try it!
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A Note from Our Founder and CEO:
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Healing from child abuse and trauma can be a very lonely journey .. but you'll never be alone again, a day at a time, if you don't want to be !!
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NAASCA belongs to no other group and receives no outside funding. We're self-supporting through our own members' voluntary contributions.
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Please consider a one time
or recurring donation
.
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Thanking you for all you do in the fight against child abuse and trauma and welcoming you to engage with your NAASCA family, I remain, as always,
Yours in service,
Bill Murray
, Founder and CEO
National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse.
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