Tonight's special guest is reglagirl from San Diego, California, a Jazz Vocalist, Composer, Songwriter, and Music Educator with a Master of Music degree from SUNY Purchase 2005. She's also a child abuse survivor and long-time NAASCA family member. In the past, she frequently participated as a panelist on many of our SCAN talk shows. We're looking forward to catching up with her! The whole idea of these shows is to use a member's personal story to help a newcomer identify. Generally we begin by asking our 'special guest' to tell us the story of their early life, what kind of family and community they were born into, and the types of child abuse they experienced. For many it's sexual assaults of a variety of kinds, but each act of  sex between and adult and a child is a criminal offense. Others are abused physically, emotionally and / or through neglect. We point out that the child is NOT responsible in any way, yet we understand many folks who are new to recovery will feel a sense of misplaced shame, guilt, embarrassment or responsibility. We know how they feel. Following their young childhood, we frequently explore a person's teenage and adolescent years, asking if the abuse they went thru effected how they felt while growing up. Then we'll discuss young adulthood up to the time a 'special guest' turned the corner into healing. Finally, we want to reserve time during each episode to talk about the solution, about our guest's personal healing journey and what they are doing today. We're delighted to have Regla_girl here tonight!