Domestic Abuse
CPD Workshop
With
Jill White, Psychodynamic Counsellor,
Children and Families Social Worker
Jill has spent most of her working life in voluntary projects and private practice and is currently a supervisor and trainer for family support workers in Bath who work with families with complex issues
including domestic abuse, generational trauma, mental health illnesses and difficulties.
This workshop will look at the definition, dynamics & challenges of understanding and working with
Domestic Abuse.
The day will include theoretical perspectives of domestic abuse alongside cultural beliefs, attitudes &
values about anger, aggression, power & control.
· What leads people into abusive relationships? Why do adults remain in abusive relationships in-spite of on-going fear, control of liberty, and isolation from friends, family and/or supportive professionals?
· Why are more women than men abused?
· Is there a connection between predatory sexual behaviour and domestic abuse?
Melanie Klein suggests that: ‘these bad parts of the self are not meant only to injure but also to control & take possession of the object.’ Klein, 1946:8.
Is projective identification a way to understand the complex dynamics of domestic abuse and how can we speak and think about the victim/perpetrator relationship without pathologising or blaming ‘victims of abuse’?
How are developmental processes and a sense of self affected by living in a family in which there is or has been domestic abuse? What is the impact of living with a scare giver rather than a care giver?
Domestic abuse is a perversion of what a child might rightfully expect from parents/caregivers.
It is likely that abuse will have a powerful impact on a child’s attachment style, both as a trauma in itself and in view of the context in which abuse takes place
The perverse paradox is that the adult care-giver is both the attachment figure to whom the child turns for protection and either the victim of abuse (mother/father) or the source of the threat (father/mother). Holmes, J. The Search for the Secure Base, Ch 9.
This workshop will include teaching, small group work and some clinical discussion.
It is not an experiential workshop & participants will not be expected to disclose personal history.
