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National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
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CSA Survivor Force
The mission of CSA Survivor Force is to provide factual information about child sexual abuse (CSA) in a gripping manner to all forms of mass media to inform and educate large populations, reduce the stigma to discuss the topic, and affect change in individual and societal behaviors, policies and procedures across the U.S. and the world. |
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Child sexual abuse can be prevented and treated with a conscious and sustained effort.
Member - CSA Survivor Force:
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Debra Staub | |
Debra Staub - Arizona activist
certainlyneeded@gmail.com
602 / 540-9065
Profile:
www.facebook.com/seasideblue
I've got lots to be thankful for but it hasn't been an easy road. At the age of 5 I have vague memories of being sexually abused by my maternal grandfather, and I suspect it started much younger. Being one of 7 grandchildren, where 6 of them were granddaughters, he did this to all of them.
He also got to my younger sister, but we never spoke about it until later.
I told my grandmother, when I was 11 about the abuse and she said, “ That's just the way your grandfather shows you he loves you.”
My mother was no help either, and later I found out that she had been sexually abused by him too. I got no help and didn't know that I should keep on telling someone until I found help.
After that, I started getting into a lot of trouble; running away, drinking and drugs, which I soon realized would numb my pain, and hanging out with the wrong type of people. I was raped by a family friend of my girlfriend, gang raped by older boys that I went to school with and left for dead out in a barn in some field. |
I made my way home, but again the memories are vague.
I quit high school, but soon realized that I needed to go back and I did. The humiliation accompanied by feeling unprotected, unwanted, and rejected by my family was too much to bear.
I thought about finding a gun and ending my life, but instead I took some pills in hopes that would be my way out, but I didn't take enough and was sent to a psychiatric ward, then later to a facility for teens. I was living in a nightmare and it kept on and on.
All I wanted to hurry up and get to an age where I could leave.
Recently a family member and their sibling shared with me that they had been sexually abused by my father. He confronted him to no avail so I called my father and confronted him too. It took me a month to get up the courage, but armed with an outline of what I needed to say, I called him. The conversation went downhill quickly after he realized that I knew about what he did to these children age 5 & 7.
Again, this side of my family offered little or no support, and some of them still do not believe it.
These experiences have seared into my brain a passion for helping others. I knew that if I made it through these valleys of life, I would give back as a way to show my gratefulness. For over a decade I've been offering education and legal resources to others.
One of my other passions is mentoring people who want to start their own business. Life still has it's ups and downs, but with the support of NAASCA and other like-minded souls, I'll never stop being an advocate for those who haven't found their voice yet.
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