Hi, John -

First of all, welcome Josh!

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but wanted to respond to John. So, John - just wanted to say that I sent my response to you in a PM. I have no problem posting it public, but I am not sure about the etiquette.

John,

I am so glad that you are willing to speak up and share your experience. I don't know about others, but for me, there are days were it does suck being a survivor and I am sick of it. With this being an online ASA forum, we do not do real time chats but you are always free to post your story, experiences, and questions in this forum. I think it is wonderful that you are reaching out and would encourage you that when you are ready to either respond to a thread of post a thread. Please feel free to speak up if you have any other questions or concerns.

Josh Bytendorp

Just small addition, dear John you are always welcomed to speak about your ASA experience in chat. Please feel completely free to do so.
We all have to learn here how to listen brother survivor, to discuss some issues and to show some empathy. So please when ever you go at chat be free to speak about your issues openly. We have to build open dialogue here and we will need some time to get that goal but if we all join our efforts we will be more successful !
Additionally as I was couple of times in Healing Circle for European-African zone (on Tuesday at 19:00 UTC -European and African time zone) that just recently has started you are more than welcomed to speak openly about your issues with us there, so please be free to come and join us. If you are interested and need some additional assurance you can always contact mike13, he is very nice guy who leads us there!
Be well and always feel free to speak about your issues here !
Pero

Joshua, thanks for being here.

I feel confident that you will address some of the ASA issues with empathy and compassion.
I am a CSA survivor and don't really understand all they are going through. There are a lot of common issues but I realize that there are some different traits that they gain from their experience that is their's alone.
A good friend of mine has had a lot of frustration on this site and I would like to see him feeling more comfortable about it. He's a really good man and deserves a voice and an ear.

Thanks again for accepting this job.

Joshua, thanks for being here.

I feel confident that you will address some of the ASA issues with empathy and compassion.
I am a CSA survivor and don't really understand all they are going through. There are a lot of common issues but I realize that there are some different traits that they gain from their experience that is their's alone.
A good friend of mine has had a lot of frustration on this site and I would like to see him feeling more comfortable about it. He's a really good man and deserves a voice and an ear.

Thanks again for accepting this job.