Sue
 SAS group  Co-Ordinator
and Founder Member

One day, in March 1996, I asked my counselor, Anne, if there she knew of anyone else who is a survivor of sexual abuse, she said she did, so I asked her to tell the other people that I would really like to meet them. She arranged for 5 of us to meet, and in April 1996 we had our fist meeting. Back then we called ourselves ‘The Women’s Group’ and, led by Anne. we met once a month.

In 1998, Anne became ill and had to retire. There was no-one to replace her so we decided to go it alone.

We chose the title Sexual Abuse Survivors for 2 reasons, firstly because we didn’t want to hide behind any other title, we felt it was time for us to come out into the open and not be shrouded in the secrecy which goes along with abuse. Secondly, the initials are SAS, like the tough soldiers, we wanted to be a force to be reckoned with.

We gained charitable status in October 1998 and have gone from strength to strength. There hasn’t been one month go by since 1996 when we haven’t met at least once.

Sue

Click here to see the effects of sexual abuse and some thoughts on healing