Survivor Support Team

As a group we seek to facilitate the healing and empowerment of survivors of sexual trauma. We are here for survivors to help them meet their unique needs, to listen, to provide alternatives to mainstream responses to sexual assault. As survivors and allies we do this to restore and create joy within our communities.

What is Support?

Support is unconditional.

It is listening…..

Not judging, not telling your own story.

Support is not offering advice…

It is offering a handkerchief, a touch, a hug…caring.

We are here to help survivors discover what they are feeling…

Not to make the feelings go away.

We are here to help survivors identify their options…

Not to tell them which options to choose.

We are here to discuss steps with a survivor…

Not to take the steps for them.

We are here to help survivors discover their own strength…

Not to rescue them and leave them still vulnerable.

We are here to help survivors discover that they can help themselves…

Not to take that responsibility for them.

                                                —Anonymous

                                                Adapted from the Birth Doula Workshop Manual

 

Survivor Support’s Current Projects:

It’s June and we’ve been focussing as a working group on Community Visibility. For Crying Outloud is setting up info tables at shows to acknowledge that folks hanging out are more likely to keep positive interactions in mind when show spaces are intentionally made into places where the community dialogues about prevention, consent, sex, and empowerment. We’re hoping that our presence at shows will inspire folks to be aware of the space they take up in the pit, it empowers us to call out unwanted behavior at events, and creates a survivor supportive environment by simply acknowledging that there are allies in the space. So we’re gathering our Roving Zine Library together and setting up all over town. Here we come! (if you want us to table a show or event please contact us with the info!)

 Glue! Tacoma show ’08

For Crying Outloud just received a generous grant from Philly’s Pissed so that we can set up a response cell phone to provide care and support more efficiently. The grant money’s also supporting our zine production costs and our comfort kits. 

Comfort kits are our unique toolbox for providing gentle care to survivors. In the event that there is an urgent call, we have a carefully packed suitcase full of some basic care-giving resources. We have chosen our Comfort Kit contents according to what we wish we might have access to if we are personally in need of loving care, and have included options that we feel are within our scope of experience to provide. We celebrate that each person’s needs are unique, and hope that if something is missing, we provide a safe space for communication so that we can do our best provide support.

A Comfort Kit includes (but is not limited to):

• Information on Plan B
• Plan B medication
• Flower essences and rescue remedy
• Basic First Aid Kit
• Tissues
• Organic Menstrual Pads
• Teas
• Arnica
• Raw honey
• A pillow
• Ibuprofin
• Rubber gloves
• Note book and pens
• List of community resources (mental health care, medical care, and more)
• Electrolytes
• Blanket