For spouses, partners, family, friends, and care providers

Community Education and Outreach / Training

Peer Presentations - Available Now

1in6 utilizes peers – staff members and volunteers who themselves had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood – to present the scope of the problem, detail the kinds of help currently available to men who have had these experiences and provide encouragement for those affected to seek assistance. Peer outreach presentations are provided in community settings – (e.g., college campuses, counseling centers and other service programs that serve our target population) to educate, increase awareness and encourage referrals and service collaboration. To schedule an education and outreach worker to speak to your group (within Southern California), click here.

Future Campaigns

1in6 will implement two phases of an education and awareness campaign. This program will be directed at specific groups of men identified as being high risk for engagement in harmful behaviors linked to their childhood experiences with sexual abuse.

1. The first phase (commencing in 2010) will work directly with health and mental health care providers who have the greatest access to our target population.
2. The second phase (commencing in 2011) will provide outreach and education directly to male survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and their loved ones.

Through both phases of Community Education and Outreach, our efforts will serve as a major catalyst in raising social awareness that male sexual abuse is a serious social problem that deserves a comprehensive and system-wide programmatic response. Our community education strategies will help legitimize this issue and promote the services of 1in6.

Phase One

In Phase One, 1in6 will develop a comprehensive toolkit of information and technical assistance resources that will be distributed among care providers in our pilot site - Los Angeles County. For care providers who are ready and able to engage more fully in the technical assistance process, 1in6 will also sponsor regional two-day trainings (at a nominal cost) to provide clinicians with specific skills to enhance their work with men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood (aka 'male survivors'). For more information about the 1in6 Men and Healing, two-day training, click here.

Phase One efforts will focus on enhancing the training of clinicians and service providers and enriching the resource safety net available to male survivors. The toolkit is designed to broaden community service providers’ understanding of the wide-ranging, lifelong impacts of childhood sexual abuse in males, and increase their awareness of how those impacts are frequently masked by other presenting problems. Research shows that men struggling with the lingering consequences of abusive experiences often have long histories of treatment for more blatant self-destructive behaviors without ever revealing their traumatic childhood sexual experiences. By educating clinicians and providers about the critical links between these issues, 1in6’s resources and trainings will immediately enhance services and treatment options currently being offered to men by providers who in the past might not have recognized or even asked about an underlying traumatic sexual history.

Phase Two

As treatment providers become more prepared to provide the type of support services needed, 1in6 will broaden our Community Education and Outreach campaign to engage and educate targeted populations of men who are likely to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. In Phase Two, 1in6 will be well-positioned to refer men in need of assistance to specially-trained clinicians and service agencies who are knowledgeable about how to meet the men’s unique treatment needs.

1in6 will engage in a wide-ranging public education campaign to increase awareness among individual men, their partners, families and friends about the links between harmful behaviors and childhood experiences of unwanted or abusive sexual interactions. We will use a variety of outreach methods including informational brochures distributed through service organizations; public service announcements on television and radio as well as in recreational venues frequented by target audiences; advertising in relevant publications and electronic media; celebrity endorsements; media events and press releases. These efforts will promote 1in6 web-based programming and encourage men (and their loved ones) to take the first step in seeking in-person assistance with issues related to male childhood sexual abuse.