Working with the Effects of Abuse and Violence

Addressing men’s violence was one of the first clear starting points for  teamwork at Narrative Practices Adelaide. We include here a brief audio recording of a “Narrative Practices Adelaide” conversation.  Prior to this recording, Rob,  Shona and Maggie reviewed notes from Michael’s intensive on working with the effects of violence and abuse and from conversations they  had with Michael about men’s violence. Toward taking a narrative focus to that work with men, they reflected on their  work and Alan Jenkins framework for “Invitations to Responsibility.” Through this closer look, they began to highlight relevant themes, which were further  brought to life through their own counseling work and  teaching. They describe how Michael’s concern with men’s violence became one of the clear starting points for their work together as a team, and incorporated into the broader training of their certificate course. In addition, we add below a number of projects and few (of many)  Friday Afternoon Videos sponsored by the Dulwich Centre. Do you have something to contribute? We welcome other articles, recordings and reflections!

Rob Hall and Alison Newton

Men who use violence in their relationships been the focus of Rob Hall and his partner Alison Newton’s work for many years. Since 1980, he has been working in the area of gender violence and abuse – in an emergency counselling service with a team exploring new approaches to inviting men to take responsibility for their violence to and to find ways to ensure the safety and well being of people they had abused. He then joined a colleague, Alan Jenkins, to further work with men who have perpetrated abuse, and more recently focussing on approaches to working with adolescents who have sexually abused. Together with others, Rob and Alan formed an organization called Nada, and have developed a partnership, in this work, with Maxine Joy and Alison Newton.

Rob continues to seek ways of further ensuring that intervention with people who have perpetrated abuse is practiced in ways that are consistent with, and that promote, responsibility, respect, fairness and accountability. A counselling approach which is consistent with these ideas entails the development of practice as an ethical journey. To quote from his article Pitfalls and Challenges in Work with Men who Use Violence Against Their Partners (on the Pratiques Narratives website).

In the last few years, Rob and his partner, Alison Newton have begun to give international workshops together (Shelburne,Vermont and Paris, France).

(Transcript is below)

‘My Happy Ending’ group work uses narrative therapy principles and practices to respond to children who have experienced violence in their families. The video describes the two-days-one-night group work process and offers reflections on working with children in Singapore using narrative ideas. ‘My Happy Ending’ is an original creation, consisting of the performance and narration of an original fictional story written specially for the group work, storytelling, and several play- and art-based activities. Using child-friendly metaphors and stories to introduce children to the use of externalisation as a way of viewing violence and other difficulties in their lives, it hoped to decrease the influence of family violence in the children’s lives and to increase their personal agency in dealing with it. The video also describes the creative use of child-appropriate collective documentation and definitional ceremony, to present the children’s knowledges, and to develop preferred accounts of their lives and identities.

Jocelyn Lee is working as a social worker in Singapore. She is passionate about incorporating narrative ideas in her work, especially in co-creating collective and living documents with her clients to elevate their alternative stories on a public platform. She is fervent about finding new ways to work with cultural complexities and welcomes collaboration opportunities. She can be reached at [email protected]

Dulwich Pub. Article

Through relaying the stories of older women, this short paper invites readers to consider the importance of listening for and responding to experiences of domestic violence and abuse in palliative care settings. Whether older women are themselves nearing their deaths, or they are caring for male partners who are in the process of dying, issues of violence and abuse are often present and require careful response. Dulwich Journal, / 2003: Issue 3 /

Dulwich Pub. Article

This is a story about several young women from California and their journey back from despair and depression. These young women decided to share their stories so that other young women might learn from what happened to them. It is also a story of the ways in narrative practices that were engaged with by two counsellors to assist these young women in telling and re-telling their stories.

Dulwich Centre Journal 2005 / 2005: Issue 1 ($9.00 AUS)

Dulwich Pub. Article

This paper considers gendered constructions of anger and how women’s experiences of using anger, abuse and violence may be shaped by these. It also examines the contribution of difficult life experiences like trauma and abuse in shaping women’s anger responses. The article describes an evolving approach to group work with women that seeks to address some of these complexities.

Dulwich Centre Journal 2005 /2006: Issue 4 ($9.90 AUS)