Female Soldiers now have a safe and anonymous place to share their experiences with military sexual trauma, thanks to the Women's Trauma Recovery Group which began at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., last summer. The Women's Trauma Recovery Group is the only sexual trauma group -- for women or men -- that meets on JBLM.
"The group is focused on coping," said Robbi Robertson, a social worker at the WTB who specializes in MST and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse" by Lisa Najavits is used as a guide for the group because it was written particularly for women who often turn to self-medication as a result of MST, said Robertson.
Najavits came to Madigan Army Medical Center to train some of the counselors, including Robertson.
"It's called 'Seeking Safety' because when someone is traumatized the first thing they lose is their sense of safety; they start doing 'things' to try to feel safe. Then they start engaging in avoidance," said Robertson.
Men and women who experience trauma engage in dangerous behaviors like drugging and drinking, she said. In military culture drinking is an acceptable behavior, but it can lead to more dangerous things or events; what Soldiers who experience MST need to do is learn how to deal with it, said Robertson.
There are usually two co-facilitators who lead the group including Robertson. One scans the group to make sure each Soldier is feeling okay and that the Soldiers are feeling safe and supported when they are sharing.
"The women are given permission from their commanders to wear civilian clothes and that allows a lot of anonymity … they are trusting one another, meeting outside of group, feeling cared about and rebuilding relationships," said Robertson. "I think if they were wearing rank that wouldn't happen."
The backbone of the Women's Trauma Recovery Group is female Soldiers supporting female Soldiers through good self care and safe coping strategies. The facilitators give handouts with a list of safe coping skills that Robertson teaches Soldiers to have ready, like compassion or rewarding one's self, and all of these are available in "Seeking Safety." Every week, every meeting, there is a check-in and a check-out during which the Soldiers make a promise to further their coping strategies.
"We ask 'What was your safe coping?' because at the end of each group they make a commitment to do some kind of safe coping behavior. That way they learn to be good to themselves -- commit to self care, positive reinforcement. That way they develop better self-care habits," said Robertson.
Self care is not cutting oneself, not drugging, not drinking too much, eating right and sleeping well. Self care involves personal control and personal safety and allows a Soldier -- allows anyone -- to feel more in control of their external environments, said Robertson.
"Good self care leads to safe coping," Robertson said.
Robertson's group meets here weekly. Soldiers are referred by social workers with the Sexual Assault Resource Clinic and behavior health clinics all over JBLM, as well as through social workers and nurse case managers at the WTB. Soldiers can also self refer into the group.
"It's hard to come to a group like this, because people don't want to talk about sexual trauma," said Robertson. "(They ask), 'How do you get over the self guilt? The shame?' Even (with) counselors -- 'Can I trust this person?' There's this fear of 'What are they going to think of me?'"
"But when they finally come, they begin to feel better. They feel like they're not the only ones going through this," she said.
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