Agency Introduction

The mission of 1in6 is to help men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood live healthy, happy lives. Believing that early adulthood is a critical time for addressing the personal issues that can result from such experiences, our services will be targeted primarily to men between the ages of 18 and 30. Working to address the gap in services available to our target population, 1in6 will offer a dynamic and information-rich website, peer-driven community outreach and education, for those who are interested, cost-free therapy sessions, recovery workshops and conferences, and a comprehensive and cost-free consultation and referral system.

1in6 sees early adulthood (ages 18 to 30) as a critical time to provide the information and support men need to take stock of their lives, and consider their options for dealing with what happened and its effects on their lives now. 1in6 will embrace the opportunity provided by the Internet to reach out to large numbers of individuals struggling with this issue. Our public education and outreach efforts will also cast a wide net among all men, in order to reach those open to assistance and encourage them to take action at an earlier age. While our outreach and therapeutic programs will focus primarily on men between the ages of 18 and 30, in the hope that they start their process of recovery sooner, our on-line resources and referral services will be available to all ages and no one seeking assistance will be turned away.

Our services will fill a current void in programming targeted to men in the 18-30 age range who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. Currently, most services available to survivors of childhood sexual abuse do not focus on the particular needs of males, and those that do serve a broad age range, rendering their offerings less appropriate for younger men. By identifying and developing an array of cost-free therapeutic services, particularly support groups, which are in short supply in Southern California, 1in6 will increase access to assistance among male survivors.

Southern California provides an ideal geographic area in which to pilot 1in6 given its high concentration of men in this age range and lack of services available for men to deal with this issue. According to the 2000 U.S. Census there are approximately 1,750,000 men in Southern California between the ages of 18 and 30. If one in six has experienced some form of sexual abuse in his life that would translate to over 290,000 adult men for whom our services could be beneficial, enough to fill the Rose Bowl...three times. Because just over half of our target population in Southern California is Latino/Hispanic, all services provided will be in English and Spanish. Piloting 1in6 in Southern California will capitalize on over 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and philanthropic networking Founder and Executive Director Steve LePore has in the Los Angeles area. Effective piloting the project in Los Angeles will also provide a launch pad to expand 1in6 to serve other areas in Southern California, the rest of the state and the nation.

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Program Goals

The majority of men in the 18-30 year old range are struggling with even acknowledging that they experienced unwanted or abusive sexual encounters in childhood, and whether or not they should seek related information and help. The four 1in6 programs and services being developed will help men move through the stages of recovery and change (see below) in overcoming abuse-related problem behaviors. It will employ scientifically proven assessment and intervention methodologies, grounded in well-established behavioral and cognitive principles. All 1in6 programs (website, support groups, conferences, etc.) will follow the spirit of the “Motivational Enhancement” approach to therapy and recovery.¹ Specifically, 1in6 programs will work to allow a client to address his ambivalence towards recovery, increasing his motivation to take the appropriate steps to recovery and change:

Stages of Recovery

• Establishing safety and stability, learning and applying effective methods for regulating emotions and managing symptoms.
• Reviewing and discussing traumatic memories and working through grief.
• Reconnecting with people, meaningful activities and other aspects of life.

Stages of Change

• Pre-contemplation – Only seeking information or help at others’ behest.
• Contemplation – Contemplating making positive behavioral changes.
• Preparation – Preparing to make positive behavioral changes.
• Action – Engaging in change behaviors, reducing problem behaviors, symptoms, etc.
• Maintenance – Maintaining and enhancing behavioral changes already made.

To ensure that the programs developed by 1in6 effectively respond to the needs of our target population and fill existing gaps in the support services available, agency staff and leadership is engaged in the following activities:

• Consulting with clinicians and social services providers in the Southern California area to survey currently available programs (in both English and Spanish), identify potential service collaboration, and conduct focus groups with men (in both English and Spanish) who had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood.
• Meeting with academic researchers to identify the most promising services and interventions to help men deal with the impact and consequences of their childhood experiences.
• Outreach to leaders of community-based organizations in the Southern California area that serve Latino and Spanish-speaking constituents to ensure 1in6 programs are not just linguistically but culturally appropriate. This work will also address how factors including religion, family dynamics, cultural expectations and concepts such as “machismo” can impede efforts of young men to deal with the unwanted or abusive sexual experiences they had in childhood.
• Collaborating with existing male survivor support organizations, such as MaleSurvivor, as well as the leading agencies in the Southern California area that serve female survivors of childhood and adult sexual abuse, such as PeaceOverViolence.org (formerly the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women). 1in6 will learn from successful models of intervention and support and adapt them to the specific needs of young men (age 18 to 30) who had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood.

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¹ Miller, W., & Rollnick, S. (2002). What is motivational interviewing? In W. Miller & S. Rollnick (Eds.), Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd ed. pp. 33-42). New York: Guilford Press.

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Community Education

1in6 community education and outreach will consist of two distinct strategies – one that provides general community education on the issue of male childhood sexual abuse and its impact, and a peer-driven outreach effort directed at men, girlfriends, partners, friends, family members, and service providers directly affected by the issue. Both arms of community education and outreach will include face-to-face as well as media-based outreach, and both will target English and Spanish-speaking communities, where local nonprofit organizations serving men in our age range will be important partners to 1in6 in these efforts. The audience categories targeted by community education and outreach correspond to the various challenges discussed earlier with regards to why many men don’t seek recovery sooner from the effects of childhood sexual abuse. 1in6 education and outreach will make clear to those subjected to sexual abuse as children, and important people in their lives, that such experiences can have negative consequences for their adult life. It will also offer hope, by informing them of the support resources available and encouraging them to explore their mixed feelings about addressing these issues and embarking on the first steps toward recovery. For clinicians and other community services providers, education and outreach will emphasize the prevalence and negative impacts of unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood among males, and help them to improve their identification of and support service provision for men who have had such experiences as children.

For general community education, 1in6 would like to see education and outreach efforts serve as a major catalyst in raising social awareness that male sexual abuse is a serious problem deserving of a comprehensive programmatic response. 1in6 will offer strategic community education to legitimize the issue and promote 1in6 as the leading champion of the issue in the Southern California area, especially with regard to our target demographic. General community education will include an orchestrated campaign, ideally with the assistance of a pro-bono marketing/advertising company, and we will utilize such forums as TV talk shows, radio talk shows and the printed press to bring more attention to the issue. It will be important to educate the community on the fact that clergy abuse is only a small part of the issue; that men have experienced unwanted or abusive sexual encounters in a larger array of situations in their childhoods.

The second arm of education and outreach programming, directed at audiences more likely to have been directly impacted by the issue, will utilize peers (staff and volunteers who have themselves experienced unwanted or abusive sexual encounters in childhood) to present the scope of the problem, the intervention strategies available, and the remaining work that must be done by the service provision sector to better assist men who have been affected by the issue. A male survivor peer in their 20s or 30s who is more advanced in his recovery will demonstrate by example that one needn’t live with this secret alone and in shame, but can work through it earlier in life. We hope to conduct education and outreach in as many forums as possible – college campuses, churches, community centers, social or athletic clubs – wherever we might reach general male audiences in the 18 to 30 age range. We would also launch an aggressive campaign to educate and outreach to our target audience on the Internet through selected sites, chat rooms and other websites that might attract men who are dealing with residual issues of childhood abuse. 1in6 views this type of community education and outreach as planting a seed among the larger population of young male adults in hopes that those who have experienced sexual abuse will be encouraged by the message to seek further assistance. Additionally, we would conduct highly targeted outreach and education to men at greater risk of having experienced this type of abuse – for example, those who aged out of the foster care system, those paroling from prison, etc.

The family members, spouses, partners and friends of men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences childhood will also be included in our targeted education and outreach audience. 1in6 will also educate and outreach to and provide information to community- and campus-based care providers and counseling centers who serve our target population to encourage referrals and future service collaboration. 1in6 will also conduct large-scale education and outreach via public service announcements on radio and television; celebrity spokes person endorsements; print ads in campus newspapers and magazines popular with the target audience; on line ads; and poster campaigns in public spaces. We also hope to produce a video about the issue that can be archived on 1in6.org and made available to community groups interested in sharing it with their constituents.

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Web Based Information and Services

1in6 will create and launch a website, with both English and Spanish portals, designed to appeal specifically to our demographic and provide a safe environment for men to read about and discuss unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood. Most of the content and services offered by other websites assume a relatively high level of pre-existing engagement in and commitment to the process of recovery from sexual abuse. The 1in6 website will be focused on helping men begin the first “stage of recovery” in overcoming abuse-related behavioral problems. The information available will help them to understand how abuse has impacted their lives and provide a safe place to consider disclosing their experiences. The 1in6 website will open up to resources of which they were previously unaware, and help them advance to higher stages of recovery by serving as a gateway to other 1in6 programs (group therapy, workshops and conferences) or to therapeutic options offered by other community service providers.

In phase 1 of web programming, the site will contain all the available information that a man might need to get started in dealing with this difficult issue, as well as relevant resources and referrals for follow-up services. Visitors will be able to add their own comments on information they find on the site (subject to approval and editing by 1in6 staff), view comments made by others, rate them for ‘helpfulness’ and see the aggregate ratings of others. The site will also have great deal of information helpful to girlfriends, spouses, partners, friends, and family members of men with histories of sexual abuse, and these visitors will also have the ability to comment on particular 1in6 information, rate its helpfulness, and see others ratings.

In subsequent phases, asynchronous staff-moderated ‘discussion boards’ will be available for men with sexual abuse histories, as well as their partners, friends and family members, (with all posts subject to review and approval by 1in6 staff). In addition, licensed therapist-moderated live chats will take place two nights a week to provide a safe, secure and anonymous environment where users can engage in more dynamic, real-time discussion of their experiences. 1in6 will make available a cost free, web-based library system in which one could check out items from amongst the most complete source of media available on the topic of male sexual abuse – including books, film, essays, interviews and personal stories. This on line library will increase access to resources among men who can't afford to or are too embarrassed or ashamed to buy these items on their own. Individuals can check out one item at a time (which will be sent to an address of their choosing) and once they return that item (in postage paid envelopes) they can check out another.

Later phases of the 1in6 will include interactive assessment and brief intervention for men who experienced sexual abuse as children, within the 1in6 website. Users will have access to assessment/intervention modules that address multiple domains related to the sexual abuse and its effects, about which men will have mixed feelings regarding the initiation of positive and healing behavioral change. These include: whether to seek more information about how the sexual abuse may be effecting their lives; whether to seek peer and/or professional help with understanding and dealing with the effects of the abuse, including post traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse and dependence, behavioral addictions like gambling, and abusive behaviors toward partners or children. In addition to allowing users to directly choose particular assessment/intervention modules, 1in6 will develop a ‘front end’ assessment module with the capacity to administer a brief questionnaire, analyze the responses and steer the user to appropriate other modules. The assessment/intervention process will always proceed according to the principles of motivational enhancement, and unfold in stages: orienting the user to what is being offered, as well as the anonymity and confidentiality of the process; assessment of the user’s current concerns and problems and needs; identifying resources that respond to those problems and needs; providing education and skills for accessing therapy, evaluating therapists, etc.

Finally, the 1in6 website will offer a full and integrated suite of assessment/intervention modules for men with histories of sexual abuse. Users will have multiple options for initial entry, based on interest and available time commitment. Sophisticated algorithms will analyze responses and guide users through a system of branching based on several response dimensions, including: “stage of change” with respect to a particular issue or problem behavior; priority level assigned by the user; and user’s confidence in their ability to make positive changes in that area. Users also will be able to view and print individualized assessment/feedback reports that they can share with significant others and therapists to facilitate effective communication and treatment. Finally, these sophisticated web-based services will be integrated with phone-based services with the same assessment and intervention approaches and goals, such that men can enter the assessment/intervention process via the web or phone, and use both resources simultaneously or and in a variety of different sequences.

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Therapeutic Support Groups

In order to address the current paucity of support services for young men in recovery from unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood, 1in6 will offer therapeutic support groups every day of the week in various neighborhoods throughout Southern California. After individuals have done their own research on line and are ready to take the next step, these support groups will bring them into contact with other men with similar experiences in their peer group. Together under the direction and supervision of a licensed therapist they can work to overcome the fears they have related to the disclosure of unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood. Support groups will be cost-free or donation-based, and will be moderated by a licensed therapist. Support groups will also serve as a gateway to individualized and more intense therapy services.

Support group site locations will be throughout Southern California to reduce transportation barriers. Support group meetings will take place in the office of the therapist moderating the group, or in private and safe public locations, and will consist of both “structured,” 12-week session groups and weekly “open” groups available to drop-ins. The licensed therapist would follow a curriculum developed by 1in6 developed utilizing Motivational Enhancement (ME) theory and strategies and would be paid for group facilitation.

The ME-based curriculum to be developed and used for all 1in6 support programming will incorporate the following principles: 1. The motivation to change is elicited from the client, and not imposed by 1in6 programs; 2. It is the client's task, not that of 1in6, to articulate and resolve his or her ambivalence; 3. 1in6 believes that direct persuasion is not an effective method for resolving ambivalence; 4. The nature of all 1in6 programs is generally quiet and eliciting; 5. 1in6 will be directive in helping the client to examine and resolve ambivalence; 6. Readiness to change is not a client trait, but a fluctuating product of interpersonal interaction (on line, in groups, individual counseling, etc…); and 7. The relationship between 1in6 and clients will be more like a partnership or companionship than that of expert and recipient.

Eventually all support group programming will be coordinated and supervised by a licensed therapist employed by 1in6. Initially, however, individual therapists facilitating group sessions will provide updates to 1in6 staff and the program will be supervised by one of the qualified board members or a local therapist operating under contract with 1in6 or providing such supervision on a pro-bono basis.

To further expand the availability of local support services and help men move towards disclosure, treatment and recovery, 1in6 will offer quarterly therapeutic workshops and bi-annual therapeutic conferences in the Southern California area. These programs will utilize specially designed curricula to help men work through their issues together. Transportation services will be offered to more distant locations and attendance fees would be available on a sliding scale, with services completely cost-free for those in the lowest income bracket. These gatherings are intended to let men who have had these experiences know that they are far from alone – beyond just those in their support groups or on line therapeutic chats, there are hundreds and thousands of men in Southern California dealing with the same issues.

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