Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 783

Tonight's special guest is Alan Fountain from Atlanta, Georgia, a child abuse survivor and member of MaleSurvivor. He hopes to start a non profit group using the acronym: TAP - (Truth + Action) = POWER. Between the ages of 9 and 16 (when his family moved) he was molested hundreds of times by an athletic coach who ran a summer youth program. In his mid-20s, Alan, who is gay, revealed his deeply held secret experiences to his father, and asked him to help prosecute the coach. His dad's inappropriate response was that he believed his son had been willing to be molested, would not be believed and should never speak of it again. His self-esteem destroyed, Alan became obsessed with a desire to succeed by overcompensating for his fractured self worth. He became an entrepreneur, eventually moving to California where he was a successful image consultant for affluent business and political leaders (among them President Ronald Reagan). Seeking professional help, Alan was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Insomnia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Anxiety Disorder and a Heightened level of social drinking compounding depressive moods as a means of self medicating. Thus began a 20 year on-again off-again recovery journey. In 1992 he was granted social security disability and was blessed that his father now committed to subsidizing his disability income for several years, hoping to aide in his son's recovery. Back in Georgia since 2013, Alan is now a determined child abuse advocate who wishes to tell his story in public, confront his home town and complete a book about his experiences.