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We are seeking a new wave of funding to carry on our important work!
While our group has been a great success since November, we have recently lost our space and have to move to a higher-cost location after August and are looking for funding to carry on.
Who We Are
The Ginkgo Group is a support group in the Portland area for survivors of sexual assault. Trauma from a sexual assault is often too much to carry alone. This support group is designed to empower and give voice to survivors who are too often forced into silence. Finding a community of people who understand and can offer support without judgment is rare and invaluable when it comes to healing from sexual trauma. The Ginkgo Group hopes to provide weekly, peer-led process groups to facilitate community building and healing amongst survivors.
Why is this important?
Survivors of sexual assault are an underserved group and there are especially few resources available in the Portland area. It is rare survivors can find a space where they can speak openly about what they've been through and feel safe doing, so knowing that they will not be met with blame or shame and that everyone present will understand. This is why a peer group is such a valuable resource. Portland’s resources for survivors are incredibly limited and the rare groups that cater to survivors are fixed-term and education-based rather than process-oriented. Survivors know what they need to heal, therefore the structure of the group places the power in the hands of the group members with no fixed timeline because there is no timeline for healing.
The Group's Structure
The structure of this group is largely based on the previous group work done through the Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC) in Beaverton, OR:
- The group will be an ongoing, process-oriented group.
- The groups meet weekly for two hours and is comprised of no more than 10–12 clients at a time.
- These groups are divided into two different parts. The first part is “check in” where group members bring to the group what they would like to talk about that week. It can be anything that relates to the assault, healing, or how it is affecting your life.
- The second part of group is “topic”. The topic will be selected by the group as a whole and can be anything related to sexual assault or the healing process. Examples of "topics" may be anger, shame, what healing looks like, telling your story, etc. The topic portion is an opportunity to have an open, group-wide discussion.
- While we are not a therapy group (but rather a process group) we incorporate elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
- We differ from SARC's model in that the group is peer-led rather than facilitator-led, placing the power in the hands of the group members. We practice peer-led leadership strategies in much the same way a twelve-step program might with shared responsibilities for group functioning and leadership roles viewed as "trusted service" roles.
Unfortunately, SARC had to cancel this program due to staffing issues making it more important than ever to provide a new community resource for survivors.
Broad goals for this group:
1. Provide survivors with a sense of community and assure them that they are not alone.
2. Provide a safe, non-judgemental space to share openly about experiences as a survivor.
3. Create opportunities to share resources and self-care skills.
4. Inspire hope. We believe that healing is possible, though it looks different for everybody and is not always linear.
5. Cultivate an environment of support, safety, and empowerment.
6. Decrease the impacts of trauma in the life of the survivor.
Where the funding will go:
The fundraising goal will primarily go towards covering a meeting space for group. A smaller portion of our budget will go towards supplies and a prudent reserve.
Please email [email redacted] with any questions
More information on the benefits of peer groups:
Information on SARC’s “Alder Program” https://sarcoregon.org/the-alder-program/
Mental health and sexual assault: https://sarcoregon.org/mental-health-sexual-assault/
It Takes A Village to Heal Trauma: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/giving-life/connecting-with-charities/it-takes-a-village-to-heal-trauma/
Trauma-informed care: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6088388/
Peer support is “creating dialogues”: https://www.intentionalpeersupport.org/what-is-ips/?v=b8a74b2fbcbb.