Counselling Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse:From Hurting To Healing

Book excerpt: Childhood abuse in all its forms is a major social and psychological problem in the UK and globally. Without effective help, survivors struggle with enduring anguish and self-harming behaviours that affect all aspects of their lives and relationships. In their new book, Zoë Pool and Michael Jacobs seek to increase our understanding of the therapeutic needs of adult survivors of childhood abuse. They describe the therapeutic services offered by a dedicated counselling agency, founded by the late Moira Walker. Here, relationships between therapist and client, and client and all parts of themselves, are prioritized. Throughout this text, survivor and practitioner perspectives are integrated with current research. Pool and Jacobs explore the impact that working with survivors of traumatic, adverse childhood experiences can have on therapists, including vicarious trauma, and consider what is needed to sufficiently support practitioners. Survivors and those close to them will find this book supportive and validating; helpful and informative. The many practitioners – in the voluntary sector, health and social care, and in private practice - who work with survivors to alleviate their distress, will find much to assist in this much needed book, which combines practice and theory skillfully and thoughtfully. "This is a seminal book. It is clearly and transparently written with a warm relational heart shining through the sensible and straightforward language. It is an intrinsic celebration of Moira Walker's legacy as well as a continuation of it. Professor Michael Jacobs and Zoe Pool and their talented hardworking contributors are to be deeply congratulated." Valerie Sinason, Founder of the Clinic for Dissociative studies, a child psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst, poet and writer "The stated hope of this book, to affirm and inspire the work of counsellors in the area of abuse, is absolutely fulfilled. A thorough explanation of the needs of clients is outlined based on a clear summary of the impact of abuse. The therapeutic relationship and possibility of longer term therapy are found to be key factors in good outcomes. Awareness of and ways of working with disassociation and taking into account attachment issues are not ignored and honest learning from practice is documented. This book will be a useful resource to a range of people – counsellors, supervisors and managers can gain insight and inspiration from the learning shared especially in regard to setting up an agency, the impact of counselling in this area, the judicial and legal process and supervision." Tanya Orr, Chair of tag "This book is an inspirational account of how voluntary counselling organisations can help survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) to recover and heal from trauma and abuse. It is a welcome and timely book given the increase in the number of disclosures from survivors of CSA and who need therapeutic support and yet have difficulty accessing service provision. This has created a desperate need for specialist counselling services that can address the specific needs of survivors of CSA and provide longer term therapeutic support. This book will be invaluable to anyone working in such agencies to understand how they can help survivors to heal through one to one counselling and group work, and how to navigate and face the challenges of the criminal justice system. The chapters on the impact the work has on practitioners and the importance of supervision are essential reading for all those working in the field to minimise the risk of vicarious traumatisation. The book is a must for all those practitioners, voluntary counsellors, supervisors and support staff in voluntary agencies who provide much needed support to survivors of CSA." Christiane Sanderson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Roehampton, UK