Resurrection After Rape Community Group
Discussion, question-and-answer, general social support, and journal processing for progress-oriented rape survivors. No crisis, no damaging or triggering conflicts--this is for individuals who want to contribute to collective, cooperative action toward the goal of making actual PROGRESS through rape trauma. Much of this work is based on the book "Resurrection After...
If you could design the treatment program that would benefit survivors best, rather than having to shop around your city to find whatever crumbs of a program exist, what would you design?
What would be the setting?
What kinds of activities would you want to include?
What creative methods should be incorporated, as opposed to generic "therapy"?
What style of counselor would be best?
My own dream:
A residential resort setting (NOT hospital in-patient) in mountains, with nearby trails and lakes. People come voluntarily and stay in a safe, secluded setting with other survivors.
An emphasis is placed on social aspects of recovery, such as group bonding and activity. Canoeing, horseback riding, hiking, campfires at night, and fun activities (the real kind, not the "cut out construction paper" crafts you do in a hospital. I'm thinking, midnight broom hockey! Gab fests!)
Therapy is done in group work with lots of available individual attention. With mountain air all around, being asked to journal is not a chore--just find a tree and sit in the mountains and write.
The sweatlodge would be included as a treatment method.
Therapists would be creative and unconventional. The mindset of therapy is equality and collaboration with the client, not authoritarian counseling. Therapists would be encouraged to participate in all aspects of treatment, including the group work AND the social experience, joining cadres of clients for coffee, roasting marshmallows over campfires with them, joining them in the sweatlodge, sitting in circles with them to talk and joke. The term
"boundaries" would refer to the use of touch and harmful action, rather than a term that segregates client and therapist from a holistic collaboration in all aspects of recovery.
The use of art and creativity would be primary. Mural paintings, collages, medicine bags, and other right-brained processes would not be excluded form the work.
Clients would contribute to the maintenance of the treatment grounds: caring for horses, assisting in meals and cleanup, etc.
The program would be available on a sliding fee scale, so that unlike other "resort treatment" programs it does not exclude all but the wealthy.
This is my DREAM. Other people may crave riches for personal gratitude, but I wish I had a couple of million dollars to start this kind of facility. Nothing like it has been tried, and I believe it would become the world's model program for survivors.
What would YOUR dream program look like?
What would be the setting?
What kinds of activities would you want to include?
What creative methods should be incorporated, as opposed to generic "therapy"?
What style of counselor would be best?
My own dream:
A residential resort setting (NOT hospital in-patient) in mountains, with nearby trails and lakes. People come voluntarily and stay in a safe, secluded setting with other survivors.
An emphasis is placed on social aspects of recovery, such as group bonding and activity. Canoeing, horseback riding, hiking, campfires at night, and fun activities (the real kind, not the "cut out construction paper" crafts you do in a hospital. I'm thinking, midnight broom hockey! Gab fests!)
Therapy is done in group work with lots of available individual attention. With mountain air all around, being asked to journal is not a chore--just find a tree and sit in the mountains and write.
The sweatlodge would be included as a treatment method.
Therapists would be creative and unconventional. The mindset of therapy is equality and collaboration with the client, not authoritarian counseling. Therapists would be encouraged to participate in all aspects of treatment, including the group work AND the social experience, joining cadres of clients for coffee, roasting marshmallows over campfires with them, joining them in the sweatlodge, sitting in circles with them to talk and joke. The term
"boundaries" would refer to the use of touch and harmful action, rather than a term that segregates client and therapist from a holistic collaboration in all aspects of recovery.
The use of art and creativity would be primary. Mural paintings, collages, medicine bags, and other right-brained processes would not be excluded form the work.
Clients would contribute to the maintenance of the treatment grounds: caring for horses, assisting in meals and cleanup, etc.
The program would be available on a sliding fee scale, so that unlike other "resort treatment" programs it does not exclude all but the wealthy.
This is my DREAM. Other people may crave riches for personal gratitude, but I wish I had a couple of million dollars to start this kind of facility. Nothing like it has been tried, and I believe it would become the world's model program for survivors.
What would YOUR dream program look like?
In the meantime, let's hope the Powerball Lottery is kind to us!
Or even Tyra Banks.
I saw an episode on her talk show where she brought in teenagers and young women who had been in abusive relationships.
And again... I WISH I had a couple of million to throw your way. This dream of yours is, and would be amazing. I'm with Leitha. We'd be your nurses on camp!!