Experience with the ASCA (Adult Survivors of Child Abuse) Workbook?

[C.]

Has anyone used the ASCA (Adult Survivors of Child Abuse) Survivor to Thriver workbook, or similar such tools?  What has been your experience with this or similar tools?  Here's the link for it
   
http://www.ascasupport.org/_downloads/survivor_to_thriver.pdf

I like their premise that "I was a child and therefor powerless against the adults who abused and neglected me"

I printed out the workbook b/c I like the format and the general stages.  It's also simple and aligns well w/other cptsd literature & tools, it has "work" to do alone and with T for each step, and gives structure, with appropriate flexibility, to something that for me is so nebulous. 

I think that Kizzie summed it up well for me on one of the threads as a nebulous cloud.  I have limited visual memory, I think b/c I had to suppress my emotional needs starting in early childhood (0-3 yrs old) like fear, loneliness, anger, anxiety or sadness.  Plus my parent's tumultuous relationship undoubtedly caused a lot of fear and anxiety for me.  Everything that I've read and my current successes at healing, have shown me that I need to grieve my missed childhood safety and nurture in order to move on. 

What I have is this unmet desire to remember, to acknowledge, and move through...but it's soooooo hard to find!  How can I process something that I cannot find or remember?...I feel like I'm trying to nail a dark cloud to a tree in a dark & foggy forest!   Every once in a while I catch a glimpse and understand, then I process and feel better.  But seeing the cloud may happen through a real life trigger.  Although the triggers are a blessing in that they help me see where to focus, they can surface unexpectedly in places like work or parenting when I need to focus on something else.  This can be a problem at work.

I'm hoping the workbook will allow me to start to see the cloud more clearly.  I hope to combine the workbook, this forum and T.  Supplement with Walker's book and prayer

I'm posting here in case there are others who've seen or used the workbook and would like to comment about what they liked, disliked, etc....

[Kizzie]

I'm so glad you reminded me of this workbook C.  I haven't used it but I really liked it too but forgot about it.  It is simple and does align nicely with so much of the CPTSD literature as you say. 

Just "noodling" here but I wonder if it's something we could use here to work through together?   I often find that something I read about someone's memories here pings me to remember something from my own so perhaps that's a way of helping ourselves to remember. Working together to remember is not nearly so scary as doing it alone, that kind of thing. 

I also wonder if it might be a useful tool for face-to-face groups? There don't seem to be any groups anywhere that are specifically for CPTSD, but perhaps the ASCA material might be used to as the basis for forming groups.  Hmmmm something to consider anyway.

Tks for starting this thread C   

[C.]

Thank you Kizzie. 

Yes, I would be interested in working through the book together within this forum.  The workbook is "sequential" but the description acknowledges that people are in different places in their healing so there is flexibility.  I've been a part of groups with a workbook like this where people could start wherever the group was and then cycle through until they've "finished" or keep cycling as much as they'd like.  Like start at step 2, chpt. 2, then keep going forward until coming back around to step 1, chpt. 2.  A format like that might work here.

I perused the forum.  They seem to have threads based on parts of the workbook, but no online "group" that I could discover, as in join in and start with step one, chapter one.  I've found OOTS to be very helpful and didn't take the time to look at the ASCA online discussion forum.  They have may have a thread for each step I think, but I haven't researched it.

The groups that occur in-person are mostly in the Bay area of California.  Then in major cities around the world and the US.  South Africa I noticed.  I even considered Seattle (4 hours for me), but couldn't find a structured group.

I like the idea of seeing if we could find an interested online group here and maybe go through the manual together with support from their web site and a training manual?...I agree it would be helpful to have a group.  Like we could "discuss" a step each week or something along those lines?

I know that you have experience with online education so you might have a format to suggest.  When I did something similar with graduate work we'd post a new thread each week following a specific format.

We could simply welcome people in at whatever step we're processing at the moment.

I would be willing to go through the online ASCA facilitator training manual and work with you or others to get this going within the forum.

Sorry if I'm jumping in too fast!...I've been processing this concept internally for a long time and am just excited at the idea of working with people who I already know through through OOTS.

I'm so happy to hear that you might be interested!  Thanks for your response! 

[Kizzie]

I love the idea of giving this a whirl C and I think it would be fairly straightforward to organize given it is sequential.  Discussing a step each week seems nice and simple and doable.     And as you suggest members could join in at whatever step we're on, or they could wait for a new cycle to begin. If there is interest it might be beneficial to have volunteer facilitators after the first go through to help with subsequent cycles of working through the steps.

Anyway, lots to think about so how about if you and I take a few days to read through the manual, gather some thoughts on how to organize this and go from there?

And if anyone wants to chime in on this please feel - the more the merrier 

[C.]

Sounds good Kizzie 

[Kizzie]

Hi Again C - I had a look at the ACSA forum and how they run it. They group the steps into three levels and anyone can post anything in each level which seems a bit chaotic or unfocused than what I was looking for in a group. I liked the idea of working through a step (or a few steps?) every week or two in more of a linear fashion. 

I reread the steps and they seem straightforward enough (one of those much "easier said than done" things in life I realize lol). It's great that there is a safety checklist and suggestions for working on the steps in therapy as well - very thorough. Anyway, setting up a forum for this is easy enough to do once we figure out what to include and how it will run.  Have you come up with any thoughts?  One thing I think is important to do is to see if anyone is interested in working through the steps as a group.

[C.]

Your assessment is the same as mine.  I'd also like, if possible, a group to go through the steps like you'd mentioned. 

I envisioned a group of interested people, say between 2-15.  We could break up into more groups if there was more interest. We could then rotate who initiates the posts for the week.  Then every few days post a new thread with a step every few days.  Probably the group could decide frequency and timing.  I like your idea of one or two steps per week.  We could then discuss and process that step for a few days.  Then move on to the next step.

You're more familiar with the OOTF and OOTS forums so I think you know more about how to outreach and find those who might be interested, plus set up the forum.

Another possibility would be to include the topic here under "recovery?"  But it might be better to have this group more private?  I'm not sure and have less experience with that kind of thing.

Is there a way to "announce" the idea on one of these forums?  Maybe see about interest for other group participants that way?

I agree that it seems relatively simple and straight forward, but with the input of everyone it could become a more complicated...give us more content to process...

I also really liked the explanation at the beginning of the workbook that this is to help Survivors/Thrivers to have social support and process their experience in a meaningful way.

Seems I have more questions than answers! lol   but I think the first step is to find out if there are others who'd like to participate in a group format.

[Kizzie]

HI C - I just sent you a PM on this as well.

I've added a new forum for the group work with three child boards (sub-forums) underneath so members would have an idea of the stages and what steps are included in each.

I made you the Moderator so you can post, but no-one else has permission to do so right now other than me so we can get our proverbial ducks in a row. How about if you add a post or two in the "Information and Announcements" forum to let members about the idea of working as a group, tell them a bit about the workbook and provide a link to it, and ask members to indicate if they are interested so we know whether to go ahead.  I think we need to give them some time so perhaps set a sign-up end date of a week or two.

Sound OK?   One thing I'm a bit stuck on is whether and how to make it private.  It might be something to ask members if/when a group forms. I can see advantages to both.

OK, must run as heading out. Tks again for getting this rolling 

[C.]

Thank you Kizzie! Sounds like a good plan and first steps   I will have some large blocks of time tomorrow and Tuesday to post on those threads.  A couple of weeks sounds like a good idea.  Also, as you mentioned the group may decide how to proceed with some of those details, like privacy and timing.

[Kizzie]

Sounds good C!       

[Katarina]

Hi There

I just wanted to chime in on the original question which was in regards to abuse workbooks. I did work about half way through one a few years back and found it an extremely helpful framework while the rug that was my reality and sense of self was being ripped out from underneath me.

I'll have to dig it out to find out which one it was as I have no idea when the snow here melts a little more I'll post back and let you know.

[C.]

Thank you Katarina!  Yes, if you could let me know about the workbook title that would be great.  And it's encouraging to know that it was helpful for you.