Counselling Survivors of Domestic Abuse explains how counsellors can facilitate recovery from domestic abuse within a secure, supportive therapeutic relationship. There has been growing awareness in recent years of the impact and consequences of domestic abuse, especially the relationship between domestic abuse and mental health. To appreciate the nature of trauma caused by domestic abuse, professionals need to understand its complex nature and the psychobiological impact of repeated exposure to control and terror. This book examines the therapeutic techniques and specific challenges, such as secondary traumatic stress, faced by professionals when working with survivors of domestic abuse. The author stresses the importance of identifying domestic abuse so that it can be addressed in the therapeutic process to aid recovery, and explores issues such as safety and protection, the long-term effects of abuse and the importance of grieving to the restoration of hope. This book is essential reading for counsellors, therapists, social workers, mental health professionals, health care professionals including GPs and midwives, managers of refuges, legal professionals and all those working with survivors of domestic abuse.

Help victims and survivors break the cycle of abuse! Trying to get victims and survivors of domestic abuse to recognize their own victimization can be a frustrating experience. They often become so frightened, isolated, and self-doubting that they make excuses for the abuser. Combining psychological insight with practical safety information, this book helps therapists guide their clients into understanding--and ending--the vicious cycle of wooing, tension, violence, and remorse. A Therapist's Guide to Growing Free provides a comprehensive outline of the issues, tasks, and goals involved in the treatment of victims and survivors. Its chapter-by-chapter breakdown of how violent relationships function and how to end them safely can help you guide a traumatized woman through her therapeutic journey. The guide's companion volume, Growing Free: A Manual for Survivors of Domestic Violence is the perfect handout for clients in individual therapy, group therapy, and battered women's shelters. Reading stories like their own may provide the shock of recognition they need to be able to understand--and eventually to end--the cycle of violence that characterizes all levels of domestic abuse. It outlines a series of steps they can take to ensure their emotional and physical safety. Its stories of women in abusive relationships and discussions of the cycle of abuse are direct and easy to read without ever being condescending. A Therapist's Guide to Growing Free provides the insight and therapeutic models needed for effective intervention and treatment, including: psychological effects and belief systems of victims and survivors discussions and illustrations of the cycle of violence the effects of domestic violence on children and adolescents the therapeutic challenges of couple/conjoint therapy handling crisis intervention suggestions for conducting group and therapeutic therapy for victim and batterer A Therapist's Guide to Growing Free and its companion volume provide both therapists and clients with a practical, action-oriented approach to the problem of domestic violence. It is ideal training and reference material for counselors at women's shelters, emergency room personnel, law-enforcement officers, and other professionals involved in the rescue, support, defense, and treatment of victims and survivors.

Victims of sexual and physical trauma can feel lost and disconnected from themselves and others. Christiane Sanderson's new book explains how counsellors can restore connection to self and others, and facilitate recovery within a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship. To understand fully the harm caused by interpersonal trauma, professionals must first recognize its complex nature, and the psychological and emotional impact of exposure to control and terror. This book examines the therapeutic techniques and specific challenges faced by professionals when working with survivors of interpersonal trauma. The author explores issues such as safety and protection, the long-term effects of trauma and the importance of visiting past experiences and assessing their impact on the present. This book is essential reading for counsellors, therapists, social workers, mental health professionals, health care professionals including GPs and midwives, legal professionals and all those working with survivors of interpersonal trauma such as sexual violence, child abuse, domestic abuse, elder abuse, institutional abuse and abuse by professionals

First published in 1998, this study investigates the effectiveness of services for helping women who are survivors of domestic violence. Looking at a sample from Western and Central Oregon, it examines the utilization and perceived effectiveness of resources for survivors and, in doing so, it systematically assesses the efficacy of community and professional services. This book will be of particular interest to social work students and practitioners, but will also be helpful to those studying healthcare and law.

"This book is designed as a quick-reference resource for counselors, social workers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, R.N.s and medical staff, victim advocates and legal personnel, and all those engaged in supporting or helping victims of violence."--BOOK JACKET.

Break the pattern of abuse--safely!Battered women often become so frightened, isolated, and self-doubting that they don't recognize they are being victimized. They may minimize the seriousness of the abuse and make excuses for the abuser. The checklists, questionnaires, and personal stories in Growing Free can provide the shock of recognition they need to be able to say, “This is wrong. It has to end.” Combining psychological insight with practical safety information, Growing Free helps the reader to understand--and end--the vicious cycle of wooing, tension, violence, and remorse that characterizes all levels of domestic violence. It outlines a series of steps abused women can take to ensure their emotional and physical safety. Growing Free offers both practical and psychological resources, including: lists of abusive behaviors from ridiculing family members to physical violence common rationalizations for abuse used by both victims and perpetrator detailed discussions of protection orders and other legal matters detailed preparations and safety precautions that may make leaving less dangerous advice on what to take with you when you leave guidelines for establishing safe relationships in the future Growing Free provides readers with a straightforward, action-oriented approach to the problem of domestic violence. A companion volume available separately, A Therapist's Guide to Growing Free, offers therapists a comprehensive outline of the issues, tasks, and goals involved in treatment with victims and survivors.

Domestic violence experienced in childhood continues to have an enduring emotional impact into adulthood. The scars it leaves can impact on family lives, employment, and long-term emotional and mental health. This book explores the experiences of adult survivors of domestic violence in childhood. The authors draw on many years' experience at the forefront of the field to bring together current research, best practice guidance for those working with both adults and children, personal testimonies and creative writing from survivors. The book addresses how to work with children exposed to domestic violence to address the issues before they grow up, as well as guidance on working with adult survivors. The personal accounts and poems make real the research and practice guidance. This important book will be essential reading for all those working with survivors of domestic violence in childhood, including counsellors, social workers and therapists, as well as students, academics and policy makers.

This updated and expanded edition provides comprehensive coverage of the theory and practice of counselling survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA). In a reasoned and thoughtful approach, common stereotypes of abusers and their victims are replaced with current knowledge on the incidence of CSA and its long-term impacts on adult survivors. Christiane Sanderson explores the therapeutic relationship from building trust and meeting the client's needs to establishing boundaries, addressing transference issues and avoiding secondary traumatic stress. She evaluates various treatment approaches and techniques, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of group therapy. Stand-alone chapters provide in-depth coverage of: * CSA's impact on survivors' sense of self and their relationships with others * self-harming behaviour, including self-injury, substance abuse and eating disorders * how memory is constructed and reconstructed, including the controversial issues surrounding recovered memories * useful approaches to coping with fear and loss from working with other types of trauma * normal sexual development and typical sexual difficulties for survivors * working with shame and dissociation. Counselling Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse honestly addresses the complex issues in this important area of work. It provides practical strategies for those new to counselling in this field and valuable new insights for experienced counsellors.

By addressing the issues of physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse and neglect experienced in childhood or adulthood, this book aims to provide the reader with a theoretical understanding of people who have been abused, and a range of practical approaches to counselling them.

In this book, Walker posits that the use of traditional psychotherapies for trauma victims has not produced the type of treatment that abused women have found to be truly helpful and that modifications in traditional practice are necessary in order for clinicians to work effectively with abuse victims. These modifications must take into account the impact of the specific form of trauma involved as well as the individual's unique psychological response to the world and the impact of traditional socialization of women and men. The author claims that abuse is widespread and that violence against women occurs in all demographic groups. Her approach is strongly informed by a feminist, participatory perspective that emphasizes reempowerment and the client's role in helping to determine the course of therapy. She examines the effects of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, and sexual orientation as part of the larger context surrounding the reality of violence against women in society.