EMPATHY TENT A HIT
AT SATURDAY MARKET
GROUP SUPPORTS
MALE SURVIVORS
OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
Robinson says the drop-in group for self-identified
According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National
males over the age of 18 is confidential and empowering
Network) one in six men have been through abusive sexual
and is starting to have participants for the first time.
experiences before reaching adulthood. Males experience
She says that one thing many people don’t realize is
the same feelings and reactions as other survivors of sexual
that in addition to supporting recent survivors, SASS “also
assault, RAINN says, but they may also be up against ad-
supports survivors who experienced sexual assault a long
ditional challenges “because of social attitudes and stereo-
time ago.”
types about men and masculinity.”
Soto-Gates says as more
Rebecca Robinson, support group
people focus on mental
coordinator for Sexual Assault Sup-
health and become more
port Services (SASS) here in Lane
comfortable having a con-
County, says while there is a great
versation about it, NAMI is
need for a men’s survivors group, in
becoming more well-known
the past SASS has struggled to get
in the community. He says
one going. However, a new partner-
that SASS fits in well with
ship with National Alliance on Men-
the NAMI’s “golden rule —
tal Illness-Lane County (NAMI) is
we maintain a culture of re-
giving male-identified survivors of
spect.”
sexual assault a place to go.
Robinson is also working
SASS is very female-empower-
— REBECCA ROBINSON, SASS
on hosting a teen workshop
ing, says Jose Soto-Gates, execu-
dealing with oppression,
tive director of NAMI-Lane County,
consent and relationships.
and he says men looking for support
The first two hours would be
around sexual assault issues may not
educational and the last hour would be personalized sup-
feel comfortable in a space with so much female power,
port. That group requires pre-registration and would meet
and may also worry about triggering women who have
on Friday afternoons at NAMI through July 26, if it gets
been assaulted.
enough participants.
“Most often women are assaulted by men,” Robinson
The support groups are free. The men’s drop-in group
adds. “So to be a man in that environment is to feel like
meets from 5:30 to 7:30 pm Fridays at NAMI, 2411 Martin
they might be looked on like a bad guy.”
Luther King Jr. Blvd. Someone will be there to open doors
Until now, SASS has been unable to get attendees to
starting at 5:20 pm, Robinson says.
come to a men’s survivors group at its offices. However,
SASS also hosts a women’s drop-in sexual assault sup-
NAMI-Lane County, which Soto says is all-volunteer run
port group from 7 to 8:30 pm Mondays at SASS, 591 W.
and takes no money from pharmaceutical companies, re-
19th Ave. in Eugene.
cently moved into a space across from Autzen Stadium
For more information on SASS go to sass-lane.org,
with a bigger resource center. Soto-Gates says NAMI is
email supportgroup@sass-lane.org, call the business line at
starting to get the word out about the meeting space avail-
484-9791 or the 24-hour crisis line at 343-7277. To contact
able at its new location, and SASS is now hosting its male
NAMI-Lane County, call 343-7688. — Camilla Mortensen
survivors group at NAMI.
‘In addition to
supporting recent
survivors, SASS ‘also
supports survivors who
experienced sexual
assault a long time ago.’
On June 20, about 16 people visited the new “empathy tent”
at Saturday Market for a simple reason: to be heard. In honor of
the late Marshall Rosenberg, founder of Nonviolent Commu-
nication, Eugene resident Mark Roberts set up the tent so that
people could be heard in a nonjudgmental way and experience
relief from their troubles.
“I had the idea for years,” Roberts says, though he says the
specific idea for an empathy tent was from another person who
attended a memorial for Rosenberg.
The ages of the tent’s visitors ranged from as young as 12 to
people in their 60s. Some of the sessions were very brief, while
others lasted as long as 40 minutes. People came to the tent for
a variety of reasons, Roberts says. Some wanted to talk about
their family troubles or the community, and some just wanted
to vent about the state of the country.
Roberts is president of Lane Independent Living Alliance,
an organization that assists those with disabilities living in Lane
County. He defines empathy as “the quality of being with another
person” and notes that it is possible to be empathic with one’s self.
Being with another person is exactly what Roberts and his
small team of listeners accomplished at Saturday Market. “I
was a little nervous, but the first person was brought in quick-
ly,” Roberts says, adding that he wasn’t sure what to expect but
that Saturday’s turnout was “beyond my expectations.”
The February death of Marshall Rosenberg left a void in
the local community, Roberts says. Although not an Orego-
nian, Rosenberg’s influence was felt strongly in Eugene, and he
traveled here often. At a local memorial for him, the mourners
broke into small groups, started telling Rosenberg stories and
tried to figure out a way to help keep the spirit of Rosenberg’s
work alive. From this the idea evolved the empathy tent at Sat-
urday Market.
Empathy between individuals is a two-way street, Roberts
says. “All of our listeners have to be grounded and ready to
listen. You can’t fake a quality of presence,” he adds. You can’t
be empathic effectively “if you’re riled up about the state of
affairs.”
The space for the empathy tent was allocated free of charge
by Saturday Market due to sponsorship by the nonprofit Or-
egon Network for Compassionate Communication. The tent
was initially a one-time event, but the it was so successful that
Roberts has secured financial backing to cover whatever fees
are necessary to keep the tent going on a weekly or monthly
basis. Roberts says he feels the tent constitutes a community
service and will do “whatever it takes to keep it open.”
Learn more about Marshall Rosenberg and Nonviolent
Communication at wkly.ws/21f. — Mike Bivins
BY PAUL NEEVEL
HAPPENING PEOPLE
GRETCHEN DUBIE
“My mother was a special educator,” says Gretchen Dubie, a
Catholic school student through college in Burlington, Vermont. “I
was fascinated by her students’ honesty and humor.” In 1994, one
day after graduating from all-girls Trinity College with degrees in
special education and psychology, Dubie and two friends hit the
road for Alaska and summer work in a cannery. Returning in
September with a new boyfriend, Chris Gadsby, she stopped in
Eugene to visit an old friend. “The car was ransacked while we slept,”
she says, and in the time it took to replace car documents, they had
decided to stay. “Six months later I was pregnant.” The couple had
two kids, Anaiese and Brautigan, a marriage in 1998 and a divorce in
2002. She put in 13 years of work for Relief Nursery, a local agency
that supports younger at-risk kids and their families. “I wore many
hats there,” says Dubie, who teamed with Dr. Lori Britain to open nine
regional Relief Nurseries in Oregon and five in Ukraine, by way of a
USAID grant. “I was an expert witness for the state in parental
termination cases. It was difficult for me as a new mom.” But it
prepared her for selection, in 2009, as executive director of the
Oregon Supported Living Program, a unionized nonprofit with 190
employees that supports adults with developmental disabilities.
“My pride and joy is the OSLP Arts and Culture Program,” she says.
“We started it in 2012, to provide recreational opportunities for the
folks we serve. It has become a source of happiness for so many
people.” Visit the program’s Lincoln Gallery at 309 W. 4th Ave. in
Eugene, open weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm.
LANE COUNTY AREA
SPRAY SCHEDULE
• ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony
Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888)
996-8080 for sometimes inaccurate herbicide
application information. Highways recently sprayed
include I-5, 126 near Santiam Pass and Territorial near
Lorane. Though all of Highway 36 was sprayed in May,
not all of this spray was reported on the ODOT
information line.
• BLM will not be spraying more than 5,000 acres
of brush near fire trails in three counties including
Lane County. Instead, it will be doing manual brush
removal of invasive weeds. See ODF notification
2015-772-09247, call Tim Meehan at 726-3588 with
questions.
• Joanna Lovera, 206-8827, plans to hire Oregon
Forest Management Services, 520-5941, to spray
46.6 acres near Murdoch Road with Transline. See
ODF notification 2015-781-09139, call Brian Peterson
at 935-2283 with questions.
Compiled by Jan Wroncy and Gary Hale, ForestlandDwellers.org,
342-8332.
Know anyone whose good work deserves attention in this space? Call the editor at
484-0519 or email editor@eugeneweekly.com.
eugeneweekly.com • June 25, 2015
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