Sexual Assault Support Services and the Women’s Center are sponsoring a campus support group this term for women who have experienced sexual violence.
The group will begin meeting from 7:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 9 or Oct. 16, depending on enrollment.
The fee-free and confidential group aims to offer a safe space for female students 18 and older who have experienced sexual violence. Although the group is not a class, it runs for 10 to 12 weeks and meshes with the academic term. Group members said their goal is to help give survivors of child abuse, rape, dating violence and sexual harassment a forum for discussion and healing.
The group has two student facilitators, including University psychology graduate student Bridget Klest. The facilitators organize and guide the meetings to provide a structured curriculum, but they said they want to give survivors a forum in which to speak instead of lecturing or advising them.
Klest said the group deals with topics such as describing healthy relationships, learning self-care and determining a person’s response to painful memories. She said people often deal with trauma through coping mechanisms, such as eating disorders.
“The one thing is people have to be at a point where they’re willing to talk about their trauma,” she said. “It’s not for everyone.”
Klest added that the group tries to provide a close-knit environment where women will feel safe to talk. The group is capped at eight participants, not including the two facilitators.
SASS support group program coordinator Robin Piedeman said the group is not open to drop-in participants.
She said the focus in the first few classes is getting to know each other so people will feel comfortable sharing their experiences. The facilitators will also discuss personal boundaries, such as whether or not a participant would want to be hugged if she
started crying.
“It’s really a safe atmosphere,” SASS community education coordinator Michelle Edwards said. “Facilitators help move the healing process forward and let (group members know) they’re not alone.”
Although the group is only open to women, SASS offers several other support groups, such as those aimed at Latinas, mothers whose children have been abused,
family and friends of survivors, men, women with disabilities and those with multiple issues to address.
“They wrapped me, all of me, in a warm blanket. The group feels like that kind of warmth,” one participant wrote in a SASS brochure.
To participate, call SASS at 484-9791, Ext. 317 or the Women’s Center at 346-4095. The SASS office is located at 591 W. 19th Ave.
Contact the reporter
at [email protected].