Children, Family Violence and Group Work: Some Do’s and Don’ts in Running Therapeutic Groups with Children Affected by Family Violence

Bunston, Wendy; Pavlidis, Tara; Cartwright, Peta

doi:10.1007/s10896-015-9739-1

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In both the underpinning "UNARS" research and the intervention itself, YP demonstrated how agentic and skillful they could be in coping with the fallout of family violence. This stands in stark contrast with much published work in this area that suggests that this group have more 'concrete' or dysfunctional styles of relating and reduced emotional competence (Katz, Hessler, & Annest, 2007;Katz & Windecker-Nelson, 2006) and limited potential for full recovery (see Bunston, 2016 andØverlien &Hydén, 2009 for critical commentary on the assumption children and young people have limited capacity for recovery). An overreliance on normative constructions of childhood and pathologising discourses around trauma tends to obscure and underestimate the complex and powerful individual and relational strategies and competences YP unavoidably develop in order to cope with adversities and to manage the physical and emotional impact of family violence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Building positive relationships within the group was at the heart of all aims and activities of the group intervention. We assumed positive relationships within the group would create the potential for generalization beyond the group, as YP experienced themselves as potentially positive relational beings (Bunston, Pavlidis & Cartwright, 2016;Bunston, 2017).…”

Section: Fostering Caring Relationships and Social Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…see the report provided by Campo et al, 2014, for a review of these). However, many group based interventions draw on a deficit model, addressing factors like difficulties with emotional regulation (Lacasa et al, 2016), disrupted attachments and trauma (Bunston, Pavlidis & Cartwright, 2016) , behavioural and social problems. This reiterates a common representation of children and young people from domestic abuse literature, as passive and damaged (Callaghan, 2015;Katz, 2015;Overlien, 2010;Mullender et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Empowering young people who experienced domestic violence and abuse: The development of a group therapy intervention

Fellin

Callaghan

Alexander

et al. 2018

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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This article describes the development of a group-based therapeutic intervention for young people (YP) who have lived with domestic violence and abuse. The intervention was informed by interviews with 107 YP, focused on their experiences of coping, resilience and agency. The intervention draws on resources from systemic, creative and narrative approaches to group work, and aims to facilitate YP's expression of distress in a way that recognizes that it is embodied, contextual and relational. The intervention also explores YP's existing strategies for coping and maintaining a sense of agency, and works to harness, enhance and further develop those skills. We report on the pilot of this intervention, and its development and application across four European countries (the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Spain). We outline the goals, strengths and limitations of this group intervention, as well as the main challenges, hindrances and ethical dilemmas experienced by the research and intervention team. Implications for therapeutic practice and training are addressed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Fostering Caring Relationships and Social Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Empowering young people who experienced domestic violence and abuse: The development of a group therapy intervention

Fellin

Callaghan

Alexander

et al. 2018

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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“…Even those working directly in family violence specific services find it difficult to acknowledge and address the impacts of family violence on children in the early years [ 49 , 149 ]. However, CAMHS is in a powerful position to not only champion the importance of the early identification of family violence, particularly in infancy [ 43 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 ], but to offer a therapeutic contribution to lives of the families they serve [ 151 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 , 160 ]. Furthermore, CAMHS has much to offer in how the prevalence and complexities of violence within families is thought about from a mental health perspective [ 49 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Diagnosis of Denial: How Mental Health Classification Systems Have Struggled to Recognise Family Violence as a Serious Risk Factor in the Development of Mental Health Issues for Infants, Children, Adolescents and Adults

2017

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Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) routinely overlook assessing for, and providing treatment to, infants and children living with family violence, despite family violence being declared endemic across the globe. As contemporary neuro-developmental research recognises the harm of being exposed to early relational trauma, key international diagnostic texts such as the DSM-5 and ICD-10 struggle to acknowledge or appreciate the relational complexities inherent in addressing family violence and its impacts during childhood. These key texts directly influence thinking, funding and research imperatives in adult services as well as CAMHS, however, they rarely reference family violence. Their emphasis is to pathologise conditions over exploring causality which may be attributable to relational violence. Consequently, CAMHS can miss important indicators of family violence, misdiagnose disorders and unwittingly, not address unacceptable risks in the child’s caregiving environment. Notwithstanding urgent safety concerns, ongoing exposure to family violence significantly heightens the development of mental illness amongst children. CAMHS providers cannot and should not rely on current diagnostic manuals alone. They need to act now to see family violence as a significant and important risk factor to mental health and to treat its impacts on children before these develop into enduring neurological difficulties.

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“…The limited evidence we do have suggests that good quality, group based interventions can make a difference in CYP's resilience and wellbeing after domestic violence and abuse (Jenney and Alaggia 2012). Group interventions that are available focus on CYP's relationships with non-violent parents (Bunston et al 2016;Smith 2016), emotional literacy (Lacasa et al 2016), disrupted attachments and trauma (Bunston et al 2016), and the prevention of involvement in future violence and abuse (Cornelius and Resseguie 2007;Siegel 2013). Some interventions focus on processing the violence itself (Glodich and Allen 1998;Peled and Davis 1995;Roseby et al 2005;Tjersland 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Resilience and Agency in Children and Young People Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence and Abuse: the “MPOWER” Intervention

2018

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The MPOWER programme is a resource oriented intervention to support children and young people (CYP) affected by domestic violence and abuse. It draws on principles from feminist informed systemic family practice and creative therapies. The intervention was delivered in 4 European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain and England), reaching 58 CYP. This paper reports on young participants' wellbeing outcomes and perceptions of the intervention. Participants completed the Children's Outcome Rating Scale, and the Children's Group Session Rating Scale (Duncan et al. Journal of Brief Therapy, 3, 3-12, 2003). A descriptive analysis of this data suggests improvement in subjective wellbeing as CYP moved through this programme. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with 21 CYP, exploring their experience of the group intervention and of its impact. These interviews were analysed thematically (Braun and Clark Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101, 2006). Three themes are discussed: These were BWorking Together: Building Trust and Sharing Common Experiences^; BDisclosures, creativity and working with emotions^; and BRoots and Branches: Working with relationships^.

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Children, Family Violence and Group Work: Some Do’s and Don’ts in Running Therapeutic Groups with Children Affected by Family Violence

Cited by 7 publications

References 35 publications

Empowering young people who experienced domestic violence and abuse: The development of a group therapy intervention

Empowering young people who experienced domestic violence and abuse: The development of a group therapy intervention

A Diagnosis of Denial: How Mental Health Classification Systems Have Struggled to Recognise Family Violence as a Serious Risk Factor in the Development of Mental Health Issues for Infants, Children, Adolescents and Adults

Promoting Resilience and Agency in Children and Young People Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence and Abuse: the “MPOWER” Intervention

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