Healing Together: Events for Male Survivors Chip Away at Isolation

Male survivors of sexual violence are resilient, but often struggle with identifying as survivors—or being acknowledged by others as survivors. Most people typically think of survivors as women, and overcoming that perception can take a lifetime. But two recent events brought a group of male survivors together to find healing in community.

MenHealing works with male survivors to develop a conscious and healing relationship with the difficult emotions that many sexual trauma survivors experience. They brought their Day of Recovery model to Massachusetts last month through a partnership with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.*

The two Days of Recovery—in Boston and Waltham—drew 23 male survivors in total, ranging in age from 21 to 70, with various sexual trauma histories. Survivors worked on mindfulness skills, body awareness, and small- and large-group processing, to name a few exercises.

“Everything seemed to work well,” said MenHealing Executive Director Jim Struve of the events. “The men were all fully engaged, and the members of the [MenHealing] team plus the BARCC adjunct facilitators worked well together.”

MenHealing and BARCC plan to hold more events in 2020 and are currently sorting through options and feedback from the two June events. 

“The men were open to the experience of the day and really allowed themselves to stretch,” said Sharon Imperato, BARCC’s clinical innovation projects and training director. “Each day did have a unique feel, and yet what they had in common is that the men came in apprehensive and nervous, seeking connection and the lessening of isolation. I feel like a lot of the men left feeling less alone. The [BARCC and MenHealing] teams  worked very well together, and it was almost seamless.”

Sign up for BARCC’s e-mail newsletter to learn about upcoming events for male survivors. Learn more about MenHealing here. 

*This project was partially supported by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance through a Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Additional support comes from contributions to BARCC and MenHealing.