We are a self-help group of women and men who are guided by a set of twelve suggested steps and twelve traditions. These, along with our slogans and the Serenity Prayer help guide us in our recovery.

Any adult man or woman who is a survivor of incest or who believes that he/she might be a survivor is welcome.

We define incest as any sexual experience between a child and any family member -- parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc., as well as other trusted adult figures such as family friends, teachers, coaches, clergy. A sexual experience can mean any sexualized touch or penetration, but also includes sexualized talk or harassment, exposure to sexual situations or material such as pornography.

Our regular meetings are open only to survivors of incest. Of course, you do not need to 'prove' that you were a victim of abuse; we hear you and we believe you! Nor do we expect you to remember everything about your abuse. Few survivors do. We welcome you even if you only suspect that you were a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Meetings are designated as Women-only, Men-only, or Coed. Please respect the gender designation of a group before attending.

No current perpetrators of child abuse are allowed in any SIA meeting. Past perpetrators are allowed on a group by group basis. Discussion of past perpetration is not allowed.

We address each other on first-name basis only. Confidentiality and anonymity are our fundamental values in this program.

There are no costs to this program. We take a collection at every meeting, but contributions are voluntary. Typical contributions are a few dollars.

The format of a meeting will vary from group to group, but in general each meeting begins with readings to affirm our values and traditions, followed by an opportunity for each member to speak. Because of the nature of sexual abuse, many of us have had to keep many of our experiences secret, and it is very difficult to share these experiences with others. We believe, however, that breaking this silence is an important step to recovery, so all members are encouraged to share if they desire to. No one is required to speak. No one's experience is too trivial or too awful to share. Everything that is said is treated non-judgmentally with the utmost respect.

All meetings have a scheduled ending time, and the moderator of the meeting will ensure that all business concludes by that time.