Rick Goodwin: Men and Healing

The Bristlecone Project is an awareness campaign of 1in6.org. Photographs and text by David Lisak, Ph.D.

Now a therapist and a trainer on issues of male sexual trauma, Rick followed a serendipitous course from his own childhood trauma. When he was six years old, he was lured into a vacant house in his neighborhood and sexually assaulted by a construction worker. He somehow “knew” that he could not tell his parents, so he buried the trauma. As an adolescent he got involved with the drug crowd, but he was also smart enough to skip a grade.

During college, an acid trip triggered a splinter of memory of the trauma. He woke up his girlfriend and told her what happened to him when he was six and fell asleep crying. He sought counseling, and he got his Master’s degree in social work. He resonated with the social activism of the field, but found little that related to his reality as a male survivor.

In 1997, along with the Y, he and a friend launched an agency in Ottawa. For eighteen years, Rick served as Executive Director of The Men’s Project – a prototype sexual assault center for men. Rick now serves as Director of Training for 1in6 and directs a collaborative psychotherapy practice – Men & Healing – in Ottawa, Canada (www.menandhealing.ca).

For men who have experienced sexual abuse or assault, free and anonymous online support is available 24/7 at 1in6.org/helpline.

Originally posted on 1in6.org

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