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Invisible trauma: Women, difference and the criminal justice system
No full textThere is an expectation that women will be nurturers and carers. Women who have been judged violent, destructive and criminal and who are detained in the criminal justice system can find themselves perceived through a distorted lens as unwomanly. This book explains how they become hypervisible in their difference, while the histories of trauma and suffering that are communicated through their offending and other risk behaviour remain hidden, and so are unseen.
Bringing together authors uniquely placed as experts in their fields, Invisible Trauma argues that it is essential to trace the traumatic roots of women’s violence and criminality. Powerful intergenerational factors perpetuate the cycles of offending and trauma re-enactment that current sentencing practice overlooks. The authors present a psychoanalytically informed account of the development of violence and other offending, identifying pathways for change to address trauma within the lives of these women and their children, and also to create a responsive, effective and sensitive workforce.
Invisible Trauma highlights the role of emotional, social and cultural forces in traumatising women who come into contact with the criminal justice system and uncovers areas of their lives that are all too often hidden from view. It will be invaluable to those working in clinical and forensic psychology, mental health nursing, psychotherapy, social work, medical practice and women’s health, as well as frontline practitioners in the criminal justice system, the health service and third sector organisations and for anyone with an interest in racism, equality and social justice
‘Every day is hard, being outside, but you have to do it for your child’: Mixed-methods formative evaluation of a peer-led parenting intervention for homeless families
No full textWe conducted a mixed-methods, formative evaluation of a peer-led parenting intervention for homeless families. Participants were parents living in temporary accommodation with self-identified difficulties related to parenting an index child aged 2–11 years. An evidence-based programme (‘Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities’) was adapted for delivery with the target population in London, UK. We assessed feasibility in terms of session attendance rate, intervention completion rate and potential for impact on a range of parent-reported outcomes measures. Acceptability and appropriateness were examined by a user satisfaction measure and qualitative interviews. The intervention was delivered across three group cohorts (N = 15). Thirteen parents completed the programme (including one parent who required two attempts). We found improvements in child behavioural difficulties, parenting knowledge and practices, while parental well-being and social support were unchanged. Participants were highly satisfied overall, with indications that the peer-led model mitigated negative expectancies of services and normalized experiences of parenting in challenging conditions. Parental self-care and ‘the good enough parent’ were strongly endorsed topics, although some content (e.g. timeout) was deemed impractical. These promising findings warrant further testing under controlled conditions
For staff on the frontline: How are you?
Get PDFNurses are working at the frontline of this current crisis providing the
acute and critical care that is needed to Covid-19 patients (and when
present their relatives), attending to the mental health of service users
deeply affected by the inherent anxiety and distress of the current
situation, as well as attending to the immediate and diverse needs of
the general public at a time of crisis. We will all also be managing our
own anxieties about our health, our families and loved ones who may
be at risk.
We know that our work as nurses can affect us; it is work that has
relationships, human contact and emotions at its core. We may be
working with people who will die, people who are facing terrible
losses, with family members in distress and we are working in
situations that are stressful, full of uncertainty, anxiety and immense
pressure. We are required to bring our clinical expertise, strength,
humanity and compassion to the fore throughout our working days.
We can only do this work, and continue to do it, if we look after
ourselves. Whilst the physical work may be exhausting at times, the
less visible emotional and psychological impact will also be significant
and impact on how we think and feel. This is likely to be true for
everyone in this current situation but will vary for individuals.
We want you to stop for a moment and consider. How are you? Not
in that throwaway way in which this question can be asked by all of us
but really How are you
Transgender sex offenders: gender dysphoria and sexual offending
No full textPurpose: Transgender sex offenders are a small, complex and atypical group. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues in relationship to the assessment of gender dysphoria in transgender sex offenders and approaches to risk management.
Design/methodology/approach: Clinical and research experience as a Gender Specialist and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist who has managed sex offender populations has informed this publication.
Findings: Little is known about the relationship between gender dysphoria and criminality. More research is required to develop a typology of transgender sex offenders and develop actuarial risk instruments. Protective factors in relation to gender affirmative care are also important to understand.
Research limitations/implications: There is little empirical research to guide gender specialists and criminal justice professionals in the management of gender dysphoria and address risk and recidivism in transgender offender populations. The treatment of gender dysphoria could result in improved well-being and better psychosocial adjustment but cannot be relied to reduce future recidivism.
Practical implications: There is no evidence that treatment of gender dysphoria reduces risk and recidivism in transgender sex offenders and that research is required to identify specific gender related dynamic risk factors.
Social implications: Recommendations are directly relevant to the work of prison and probation staff, community supervisors and gender identity specialists.
Originality/value: As far as the author is aware it is the first paper on the assessment and management of gender diverse sex offenders integrating approaches to gender dysphoria assessment and treatment and risk management. It has implication for gender identity specialists, criminal justice professionals, research and policy
Reflexivity in the everyday lives and work of refugees and therapists
No full textIn this chapter we (two systemic psychotherapists) write about our work with refugees and asylum seekers in which we aim to help rekindle trust and find a way of living on in a social world often without political protection. This context poses particular challenges to therapists, because for refugees and asylum seekers ordinary everyday events point to extraordinary ruptures and violations in the past. Drawing on the idea of Veena Das of ‘the everyday work of repair’ and on her use of Wittgenstein’s notion of ‘turning back’, we argue that these ideas are useful in understanding how violent ruptures, betrayal, displacement and loss may be revisited so that persons can go on living with these experiences, not in the past but in the present, without erasing the past and at the same time keeping the potentiality of the future. Using examples, we show how we enter this territory through the use of our understanding of what we call ‘the human condition’ and our own reflexivity
Laverne Antrobus on ITV News. How parents can deal with 'enormous' impact of the coronavirus crisis on children. 16 July 2020, ITV [Starts at approximately 07:47]
No full textThe coronavirus pandemic, and the fallout from it, could pose the biggest mental health crisis for children and young people in the UK.
Childline - perhaps the country's best-known service for children who need support - has shared its most recent data and what it tells us about the worrying consequences for 'Generation Covid' with ITV's Tonight programme.
The charity has seen a 37 per cent rise in the number of children aged 11 and under contacting them for mental and emotional health issues during lockdown restrictions.
And worries about what’s happening in the world have increased by more than 150 per cent.
For child psychologist Laverne Antrobus, the mental health toll of the pandemic on young people "feels enormous".
She says "the loss for some children, the mourning of the experience" of missed occasions and milestones is significant
An exploration of the nature and function of psychoanalytic parent work with adoptive parents
No full textThere has been an increase in the number of adopted children seen by psychotherapists (Rance, 2003), and yet little is known about the nature and function of the interventions with adoptive parents that run alongside this work (Whitefield and Midgley, 2015; Robinson, Luyten and Midgley, 2017). This study explores the experiences of four psychoanalytic child psychotherapists, who work in a specialist fostering, adoption and kinship care child and adolescent mental health service (FAKC CAMHS), in carrying out parent work with adoptive parents. Semi structured interviews were used to collect the data, which was then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Seven superordinate themes shared between clinicians emerged from the data: ‘Seeing the child’, ‘Talking about the trauma’, ‘Getting alongside’, ‘Going there’, ‘Seeing the parent’, ‘Finding the space’, ‘Bridging the gap’. The practitioners’ experiences conveyed the complexity of working with adoptive parents, the approach they took, and the dilemmas and technical challenges they came across. Parallels between the findings and the literature on psychoanalytic theory and practice around work with looked-after and adoptive children and psychoanalytic parent work were found. It is argued that the insights the study provides could be drawn upon to further define, inform and provoke debate about the contribution child psychotherapists make to this work and the possible need for further training and support for child psychotherapists in this specialist area
Identity: Psychological perspectives
No full textA presentation by LJS Member Dr Stephen Blumenthal, clinical psychologist
and psychoanalysist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and
Queen Anne Practice, will be followed by a discussion led by LJS Member
Harriett Goldenberg, existential psychotherapist, teacher and author
A therapeutic group for young people with diverse gender identifications
No full textYoung people are presenting to specialist gender services in higher numbers than before and many with significant psychosocial difficulties. Negative experiences of stigma, difficult peer relationships and discrimination exacerbate distress and psychological difficulties, negatively impacting wellbeing and resilience. Social support is advocated as a means of supporting young people with diverse gender identifications, such as through peer support groups. This article describes the establishment of a young persons’ group in 2011 within the United Kingdom’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), for those attending the service as a means of enabling their coping with difficult experiences and facilitating their wellbeing and resilience through effective social support. The group was evaluated using qualitative and quantitative measures and has subsequently run each year. Now in its sixth year, the authors reflect on their learning and experiences
