Tonight's special guest is Wendell Fields from Tuskegee, Georgia. Wendell is a survivor of various abuses. They include sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. He has overcome the odds of being born 2 pounds and 10 ounces and labeled as being developmentally disabled. With this mindset of being confused, rejected, not being good enough, self-hatred, and distrust of the world around him, in 2008, Wendell attempted to take his life through the use of suicide. Although these circumstances and hardships occurred, he has also overcome the odds of the trauma of sexual abuse, being bullied, the misuse of alcohol, and the stigma of being diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Wendell now uses his experience to help educate, advocate, and connect people to community support and resources. He is a Board-Certified Christian Counselor and Certified Christian Life Coach with the National Association of Christian Counselors. He is a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Georgia Board of Directors and is the appointed Representative of Georgia to the NAMI National Peer Leadership Council. He is one of the crew of the multi-award-winning film and documentary, Suicide The Ripple Effect. He is a bestselling coauthor of the book There Is No Health Without Mental Health, Men and Mental Health, Let’s Talk About It. He is an international speaker on mental health topics. Lastly, he is the President and CEO of Wendell Fields Enterprise LLC.. ~~ Contact Information: [email protected] or www.wendellfields.com ~~ Everyone's invited to engage on tonight's show. ~~ Please visit the NAASCA.org website.

Tonight's special guest is Astrid Ross from Georgia. Astrid is a wife and mother of 5 adult children and 2 grandchildren. She is a former daycare owner of 6 years, and an early childhood teacher (Preschool/Kindergarten teacher for 8 years). During her career, she has been a Montessori preschool director and elementary/middle school Principal. She has worked in a state-accredited and licensed preschool --- 8th  Montessori school for 17 years. She was an Executive Director of Mental Health Support Network, a nonprofit geared towards better mental healthcare for all Georgians. She led the newly created Gwinnett Community Mental Health Task Force. Was PTSA President of Berkmar High School. Astrid is a Mental Health Advocate and NAMI Educator for their Ending the Silence, In Our Voices, and Share Your Story with Law Enforcement and BASICS programs.  She is also a Mental Health Clinician providing services as a GA Certified Peer Specialist for Parents of children who have a mental health diagnosis or substance abuse.     . . . . . .

Q & A call-in discussion with a survivor professional, using an OPEN MIKE forum. We'll feature a survivor-professional co-host who'll field topics brought to the episode by you, the listener. ~~ Tonight's special co-host is Carol D Levine from New Jersey, a survivor with many professional certificates and training. Among other things, Carol is a State Certified Technician at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, and she studied both at UMD - Alcohol and Drug Studies and at Princeton University for Evaluation & Assessment Training for clients of Alcohol & Drug Abuse. In this, she also learned about behavior modification for dysfunctional families and goal planning. Carol is a long-time NAASCA volunteer, vice president and SCAN talk show Host. She calls herself our 'night owl' since people reach out to her well into the wee hours every evening. Carol is not shy about broaching any topic related to child abuse and trauma including sexual abuse, violent abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Call her!!! ~~ On these episodes we welcome various co-hosts, and survivor-professionals who'll assist in fielding questions and lead a variety of topics suggested by our call-in participants. Their trauma-informed perspectives as survivor-professionals will help them guide discussions on the issues of child abuse, trauma and healthy human sexuality that spring from questions and topics brought to us by our listeners. ~~ Everyone's invited to engage on tonight's show. ~~ Please visit the NAASCA.org web site.

Special topic show - please call !! Those who call in will form a panel that'll describe, and be critical of, NAASCA's tools, programs, and services. Just call in to participate or to suggest a topic !! ~~ (646) 595-2118 ~~ On these episodes we welcome various co-hosts, and survivor-professionals who'll assist in fielding questions and lead a variety of topics suggested by our call-in participants. Their trauma-informed perspectives as survivor-professionals will help them guide discussions on the issues of child abuse, trauma, and healthy human sexuality that spring from questions and topics brought to us by our listeners. ~~ Everyone's invited to engage in tonight's show. ~~ Please visit the NAASCA.org website.

Tonight our Special Guest is Scott Ball who is from Texas. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His Mother had 3 children by the time she was 20. His father abused his mother as well as the children. He was the oldest and at 3 1/2 years old, after his family moved out of state his mother sent him, his 2 ½ year old brother and his sister back to Minnesota. His brother and sister went to live with their Grandfather and step-Grandmother, and he went to live with his Aunt and Uncle. His brother and sister were told he was their cousin. When his Aunt and uncle divorced because of Domestic Violence that he witnessed, he was sent to live with his sister and brother at his Grandparents house. Shortly after he moved in, his mother got remarried and came to get him and his brother and they went out to work at a carnival. Alcoholism, drug addiction, physical, sexual, emotional, spiritual abuse and mental health issues were rampant and the dysfunctional family systems were not only just acceptable but passed on as normal. Scott survived these abuses and as a boy was sexually abused by his step-father. As he began to get sober as he started to look at his child sexual abuse, which men rarely speak of, he began working a 12 Step Program and remains Sober and Drug-Free. As he tells his story in meetings he speaks of his abuse and the family dynamics which he Survived as helps other men identify and work through the difficult process of their Healing Journey of childhood abuse. He will talk about how being a boy who was abused had difficulties defining, accepting and finally sharing his feelings as he learned he was not alone and that he could identify with other men and together help each other .

Q & A call-in discussion with a survivor-professional, using an OPEN MIKE forum. We'll feature a survivor-professional co-host who'll field topics brought to the episode by you, the listener. ~~ Tonight the special co-host is Michelle Bless from Cincinnati, a survivor of severe child abuse who's now a Minister and Chaplain. She'll appear on the 1st Thursday of each month and is the author of the book "Out of Darkness: the Michelle Bless Story," her story of redemption. In 1997, Michelle writes that she, ".. was introduced to the Lord and denounced Satan," thus beginning the process of giving her life to God. Michelle is on a mission to bring as many lost souls to God as possible. Her firsthand knowledge of how low a life can plummet to the depths of despair enables her to understand and relate to what others are facing as they struggle to find God in their lives. ~~ On these episodes we welcome various co-hosts, survivor-professionals who'll assist in fielding questions and lead a variety of topics suggested by our call-in participants. Their trauma-informed perspectives as survivor-professionals will help them guide discussions on the issues of child abuse, trauma and healthy human sexuality that spring from questions and topics brought to us by our listeners. ~~ Everyone's invited to engage on tonight's show. ~~ Please visit the NAASCA.org web site.

Not yet booked. -- much more info to come -- .

Q & A call-in discussion with a survivor-professional, using an OPEN MIKE forum. We'll feature a survivor-professional co-host who'll field topics brought to the episode by you, the listener. ~~ Tonight the special co-host is Rev Henry (Hank) McGrath from Caroga Lake, New York, a child abuse survivor, author and NAASCA volunteer. Hank began life in a poor Irish family with 4 siblings in NY. Both parents were alcoholics. At 11 he was hustling to survive in Pittsburgh, PA with bookies, pimps, and prostitutes. It was dangerous for a child alone. Eventually he served time in the juvenile detention system and as a young adult in prison for crimes he'd committed. After decades of hard living and a few near-death situations, he began facing his childhood trauma and by the 90's was happily married. When his beloved wife died from cancer in 2001 Hank promised her to fight for others on the issues of child abuse. Since then, he has worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as a court advocate for youth, and more. Today, Hank is a minister and is very active in his community. ~~ On these episodes we welcome various co-hosts, survivor-professionals who'll assist in fielding questions and lead a variety of topics suggested by our call-in participants. Their trauma-informed perspectives as survivor-professionals will help them guide discussions on the issues of child abuse, trauma and healthy human sexuality that spring from questions and topics brought to us by our listeners. ~~ Everyone's invited to engage on tonight's show. ~~ Please visit the NAASCA.org web site.

Tonight's special guest is Sylvia Rockwell. She has dedicated her career to working with children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders as well as those in at-risk settings. She has worked in wilderness, therapeutic camps; in classroom settings; and at the university level. In addition to her professional work, she is a mother, grandmother, and wife. Through her own personal work with therapists to address the impacts of trauma during her developmental years and her experiences with students over four decades of professional work and research, she knows the risks of emotional abuse and neglect from both sides of the desk. The beginnings of her professional work were motivated by childhood and adolescent experiences during my developmental years. Invisible Shrapnel: The Legacy of Emotional Abuse is part of the ongoing commitment to providing information to the general public about what constitutes emotional and verbal abuse, the long-term impacts over the developmental years, resilience research findings that clearly point to the power of the community in facilitating self-right potential within young people, and the very real impacts of intergenerational trauma that can be addressed and healed. I currently speak with community groups as asked and am a member of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I no longer have an active website. People can access free handouts on resilience, handling power struggles, and other topics at sylviarockwell.com. If they want to communicate with me, they can email me at [email protected]. The email link on the website is not currently working. To order Invisible Shrapnel go to austinmacauley.com.

Tonight's special guest is Mary Ann Smith from Torrance, California, a returning NAASCA family member whose last appearance was in October of 2021. Mary Ann had a difficult home life. Her father died when she was 10 and her mother, who struggled with mental illness, eventually lost custody of her four kids. At 13, Mary Ann was placed in foster care and began to suffer sexual abuse. Foster care kids are among the most abused, along with indigenous children and those living in our poorer inner city neighborhoods. About 60% of sexually abused kids are abused by their own family and and extended family (mom's new boyfriend for example) and 30% are assaulted by their own 'caregiver' community (baby sitters, teachers, clergy coaches, camp councilors). Less than 10% of sexually molested kids are assaulted by strangers to them or the community. Mary Ann had a lot of trauma in her adulthood, including CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress disorder). As children we often don't know at first just what is happening. Once we realize that the adults around us are being abusive, we often have a hard time, being heard, being believed. For many people the obsessive use of like alcohol, food, gambling to excess and sexual promiscuity, which can last for decades, can stand in the way of recovery. Mary Ann had a difficult time just remembering her previous life. But she's now reconstituted her self, and at 66 seems ready to take on this healing journey .. and we're delighted to have her as the newest member of the NAASCA family.