Survivors of Incest Anonymous

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Linda D · 1982 · Baltimore, USA

What it is

SIA is a mutual-help twelve-step fellowship, not a therapy. No clinician runs it. It is for adults (18 and over) who were sexually abused as children. It started in January 1982 in Baltimore, when three women survivors met at a kitchen table and adopted the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step model. The…

Format

• SIA publishes no phases or session counts. Below, the fellowship's own structures are tagged. The clinician-side pathway is.
• Meetings. Usually weekly and run by survivors, in person, online (Independent Virtual Meetings; the World Wide Virtual Meetings group on Zoom) or by phone (daily phone meetings). Formats are speaker, topic discussion, or literature meetings, chosen by group conscience. Meetings are closed (members…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: Survivors of Incest Anonymous World Service Office (SIA WSO) materials as published on siawso.org in 2026: the SIA 12 Steps, 12 Promises (two versions), newcomer FAQ and history pages, and the World Wide Virtual Meetings (WWVM) "12 Guidelines for Safe Sharing" reference and training manual (approved 15 January 2022, updated 14 October 2025). Clinician procedures are my own unless tagged otherwise.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Taking on service to please others, or to avoid one's own work.
• Pressure from anyone to "make amends" or "forgive" abusers. That is not in SIA's wording.
• Peer contacts being used instead of crisis services when the client is at acute risk. See B9.
• Clients for whom prayer language is alienating or tied to abuse in a religious setting. See B4.
• Despair or self-blame when the promises haven't come true yet. Frame them as aspirations, not deadlines.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.