We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jim Struve a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Most of my adult life has been devoted to working for social justice issues. I grew up in a rural farm community in northern Wisconsin and was somewhat sheltered from social justice issues; therefore I was naive and somewhat conservative when I left that community to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967. Early in my first college semester of, I was inadvertently embroiled in the midst of a campus anti-war demonstration that erupted into police aggression, tear gas, and much chaos. I was immediately politicized. This launched me on to the path of learning about social justice issues and prioritizing my time and energy to work for social change.

Quick overview: I became a devoted anti-war activist; I volunteered my time for draft counseling; I applied for Conscientious Objector status regarding my own future possibility to be drafted; then when the draft lottery was implemented and I was allocated # 37 (out of 365 options) in the que for draftees, I withdrew my CO application; I become intricately involved in student government; I was arrested for chaining myself to the wheel axles of a bus taking draftees to military service, spending time in jail when myself and my cohorts refused to pay bail for our release; I helped to start the first urban commune in Madison; I started a Center for Conflict Resolution which included a Peace Studies program at the University Overall, the bulk of my time in Madison was devoted to social activism.

I moved to Atlanta in 1976, after a short detour as a faculty member for an immersive Peace Studies college program in Pittsburgh; I eventually secured employment working as a Protective Service worker for abused and neglected children, a job I retained for 4 1/2 years; after which I worked for several years at a residential facility for abused and neglected children; secured a Social Work degree; and worked at two Psychiatric Hospitals. After 7 + years of working primarily with boys and men who had experienced sexual victimization, I finally (in the early 1980’s) accessed my own dissociated recall as a childhood survivor of sexual victimization. I was unable to find anyone to help me with my own healing as a male survivor; I eventually found two other men who were similarly seeking resources for male survivors; we created an opportunity to organize a conference in St. Paul, MN (1988) to address male survivors; the conference was an add-on day for a conference about sexual offender; 200 people attended this gather. I vowed to organize a conference exclusive for issues important to non-offending survivors, which was conducted in Atlanta in 1989; 450 people, from 14 countries, attended; after which several others and myself formed an Advisory Committee. We continued to oversee several subsequent annual conferences on this topic. The Committee convened regular planning meetings at my home; we developed protocols of shared financial resources and consensus decision-making.

By 1995, we incorporated as a 501s3 national organization, which eventually became MaleSurvivor.org. In 2001, three-day Weekend of Recovery healing events were started, providing space for men and male-identified survivors to heal in community. In 2018, we re-organized as an independent 501c3 to maintain operation of the WORs and to expand our outreach for more robust engagement with social justice issues. I assumed the duties as Executive Director for MenHealing. In August 2023, we celebrated our 100th WOR event. Meanwhile, MenHealing has expanded our services to include video production for story-telling of hope and healing from sexual assault, development of informational materials, work with incarcerated survivors, ventures into theater as a modality to reach people, etc.

As for myself personally, I have invested much of my energy in outdoor adventure; I have a long history of wilderness exploration; I remain an avid downhill skier; I have many years history as a runner, including racing teams and winning many running awards; and many years of road biking and mountain hiking. I have been in a 29 year relationship with my now husband and I am c a lifelong godfather for a wonderful young man who is now 36 years old. I love music, cooking, and gardening.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

 I am deeply committed to congruence between words and actions. I believe the synergy of this congruence, if genuine, is powerfully transformative for exemplifying social justice. Too often, I observe individuals and organizations with visible incongruence between stated mission and operational practices;
 Authentic healing for survivors is more accessible when safety is not assumed;
establishment of safety allows direct engagement to explore the critical questions: “what do you need – from yourself, from me, from others – to make it safe enough for you authentically to engage in this relationship and our work together.” This applies to 1:1 interactions, as well as within context of groups and organization;
 I believe in the power of relationship as a transformative factor for healing. Establishing authentic connection allows a context for personal healing at a deeper level as well as creates a more dynamic organizational environment.
 I often advocate that MenHealing must avoid becoming a “factory;” we will be most effective if we can build an evolutionary organization that exists as a living entity rather than a bureaucratic institution; while we are providing resources and services, we must invest ourselves in embracing heart and soul energy in the services we provide and how we work together, internally and externally.
 A key to growing clientele is to work collaboratively whenever possible; creating networks of collaboration will plant the seeds for greater long-term impact than building an institutional empire; sharing is a powerful component for moving beyond many of the polarizations that plague our current world;
 Beyond providing trauma informed resources, I believe we must promote greater sensitivity to address the intersecting contexts in which trauma occurs; our work to heal survivors of sexual violation requires a concurrent commitment to change the circumstances that fuel sexual violation;
 Growing clientele requires investment of time and resources to “movement-building” above and beyond the delivery of services.
 A current need for working with men and masculine-identified survivors is to promote open explorations about the fluidity of gender; we must have the courage to challenge the binary construction of gender; we will grow our access to survivors as we move beyond the rigid compartmentalization of gender identity and sexual expression.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My story of resilience focuses on my lifelong relationship with nature, not any single event. From a young age my immersion in nature was a primary source of strength and resilience. I was especially inspired by 15 canoe expeditions during my youth into the Boundary Waters / Quetico Wilderness areas of northernMinnesota / Southern Ontario. I acquired first-hand personal skills of survival within a wilderness environment while observing trauma experienced by the landscape and the lessons of resilience for recovery and re-growth. Unable to control the circumstances of my own sexual victimization, I gained confidence and self-esteem when I was living in relationship with the natural world. Although I was estranged from organized sports, I acquired resilience when my physical body was connected to nature. I learned the safety of physical strength when it was not used for the purposes of competition, control, or dominance. My optimism and resilience have been tested throughout my life, as I have experienced numerous accidents and injuries during my adventures with canoeing, running, biking, skiing, and mountain trekking, I have embraced personal resolution never to give up. Nature has provided me the lessons of resilience and recovery that allows me – even at age 74 – unwavering optimism and vigorous energy to remain active in all aspects of my life.

One more source of resilience has been my love of animals and the lessons they have taught me. I have been deeply impacted through many years of volunteer service work with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary; one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world. For several years, I have been facilitating collaborative service trips for MenHealing personnel to
offer time and energy to help abused and neglected animals on their journeys for hope and healing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.menhealing.org
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/Jim-struve-34466120
• Other: jimstruve@menhealing.org

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