B4U-ACT

B4U-ACT is a unique collaborative effort between minor-attracted people (MAP) and mental health professionals to promote communication and understanding between the two groups. Their goal is unique and unprecedented: to make effective and compassionate mental health care available to individuals who self-identify as minor-attracted and who are seeking assistance in dealing with issues in their lives that are challenging to them.

MISSION

B4U-ACT, Inc. is a unique collaboration between mental health professionals and individuals who self-identify as sexually attracted to minors. The goal of B4U-ACT is to make effective, compassionate mental health services available to this population, while challenging negative cultural assumptions which frequently serve as barriers to treatment, thus increasing the likelihood of minor-attracted people leading productive, meaningful lives.

ORIGIN

Co-founded in 2003 by Michael Melsheimer (a minor-attracted volunteer for the online support network, Lifeline, until shortly before his death in 2010) and social worker Russell Dick, B4U-ACT thrived as a state-funded, Maryland-based 501(c)(3) organization for seven years. While B4U-ACT currently maintains its non-profit status, Baltimore Mental Health Systems withdrew its annual funding in 2010 – shortly after Michael Melsheimer’s passing – due to economic cutbacks. As of July 2013, B4U-ACT subsists exclusively on supporter donations.

WORKSHOPS (2003-2011)

During its seven-year stint as a state-funded organization, B4U-ACT facilitated six annual workshops, inviting mental health professionals and minor-attracted people to convene on neutral territory to discuss the challenges, biases, and other obstacles to achieving mutual understanding between the two groups. Nearly thirty minor-attracted people and sixty mental health practitioners participated over the course of seven years to address issues ranging from the difficulties of living in secret with attractions to minors, the shortcomings of forensics-based treatment programs, the public stigma surrounding minor-attraction, as well as the collegial stigma faced by clinicians who openly express sympathy for minor-attracted people. The vast majority of mental health professionals in attendance responded with an enlightened sense of compassion toward their minor-attracted counterparts, while many of the latter voiced how simultaneously liberating and terrifying it was to speak so frankly about their sexuality in mixed company, considering the lengths they routinely go to understate these aspects of their identities in everyday life.

SYMPOSIUM (JUNE 2010)

In June 2010, B4U-ACT organized a symposium to debate issues surrounding proposed revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) entry on “Pedophilia,” recruiting researchers from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical School, University of Illinois, University of Louisville, and London School of Economics and Political Science. The symposium marked B4U-ACT’s crowning effort in an ongoing crusade (which included attending the 163rd Annual American Psychiatric Association Convention in New Orleans, in addition to the daily, three-month long circulation of fifteen appeals written by minor-attracted people to members of the DSM-5 Subworkgroup on the Paraphilias) to hold the American Psychiatric Association accountable to its own research ethics as regards formulating diagnostic criteria (i.e., pulling from a wide variety of studies and fields of science, as well as valuing stakeholder input).

RESEARCH INITIATIVES

B4U-ACT’s present initiatives include serving as a research gateway to the non-forensic minor-attracted populace, a valuable resource to clinicians otherwise restricted to research subjects currently under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system, many of whom boast aggressive offense histories (as opposed to the untold numbers of private citizens who responsibly manage such attractions) or face pressures to self-censor in order to conform to “deviancy control” protocol and avoid indefinite civil detainment. B4U-ACT seeks to develop trustworthy relationships between law-abiding minor-attracted people (as well as those who’ve already served out their sentences) and researchers interested in broadening study samples to include such persons so to present a better-rounded overview of the minor-attracted populace.

TESTIMONIALS/Q & A SESSIONS

Minor-attracted representatives from B4U-ACT have conducted both web-based and in-person testimonials/Q & A sessions with Graduate classes in Clinical Psychology/Undergraduate classes in Human Sexuality at Northwestern University, Graduate classes in Human Sexuality at Widener University, and in conjunction with the National Association of Social Workers’ Maryland Chapter Conference. B4U-ACT considers face-to-face dialog a crucial component to dismantling Marvel Comics-grade representations of the “Insatiable Sex Monster” in the public psyche by enabling students, clinicians, and other inquiring parties to weigh such perceptions against the nuances and complexities of real people, and so remains committed to availing minor-attracted representatives to universities, social justice groups, and behavioral science institutions for this purpose.

PEER SUPPORT

B4U-ACT also provides moderated, online peer support for minor-attracted people and families/friends of minor-attracted people. Discussion topics may include living with the stigma of being attracted to minors or of being associated with people harboring such attractions, developing healthy, safe relationships, working with mental health professionals, living within the law, and other issues which may or may not be related to sexuality. B4U ACT is dedicated to responding to the psychological needs of minor attracted people by cultivating a social climate in which such individuals can live without fear, shame, or isolation.

External Links

B4U-ACT Homepage: www.b4uact.org Baltimore Mental Health Systems Homepage: www.bmhsi.org/ B4U-ACT Workshops: http://b4uact.org/workshops.htm B4U-ACT Symposium: http://b4uact.org/news/20110817.htm B4U-ACT’s Research Ethos: http://b4uact.org/researchethos.htm B4U-ACT MAP Support Group: http://b4uact.org/peersupport.htm B4U-ACT Friends/Family of MAPs Support Group: http://b4uact.org/ffsupport.htm Salon.com Article: "How Can We Stop Pedophiles? Stop Treating Them Like Monsters