In 1993, Jessica Kingsley Publishers produced the first volume in the Good Practice series of edited books, which is now, 20 years on, a mainstay of their collection. This series, edited by Jacki Pritchard has developed in order to explore what good practice looks like in relation to some rather contentious areas in social work and social care. One of the most notable of these areas is the issue of abuse and violence. This most recent addition to the collection explores the area of recovery for adults who have experienced abuse and the approaches that might be used to assist and support individuals to move from coping and survival to growth towards full potential. Such perspectives bring an important and much-needed focus to this area, which has often been lacking in the past.
This is a useful and important book. As a volume, it provides valuable discussion of practice in relation to recovery and longer-term healing for individuals from a range of abusive contexts, with the range extending from adult victims of child sexual abuse, through those affected by domestic violence and sex-trafficking to survivors of the holocaust. This discussion is much needed and has been under-developed in the past. One of the key strengths of the book is that it is firmly rooted in the direct experiences and voices of individuals who have been abused, both female and male. The focus that different authors have on the impacts of abuse on individuals offers the reader a sensitive, detailed and realistic basis for consideration of the need for different approaches to recovery and healing from abuse. It also shows how these may be applied in a variety of settings.
The book features chapters written by practitioners and researchers from various backgrounds and provides insight into how to be creative in helping both male and female victims through recovery and healing processes. The prologue helpfully introduces the perspectives of victims themselves, whilst the opening chapter considers how recovery and healing could and should fit into the adult safeguarding process. Following chapters then describe creative therapeutic methods which might be employed to help victims recover and to heal in different settings, whilst at the same time highlighting the nature of the long-term effects of abuse and the subsequent issues which must be addressed to allow individuals to heal. One of the chapters, by Gee discusses the establishment of an intervention based on art therapy designed for women with learning disabilities who have experienced abuse. A further chapter, by Hassan explores a service that combines a therapy centre based on multi-disciplinary approaches with a social centre designed for Jewish Holocaust survivors. The integration of intergenerational activities with a group work format and the power that this has to promote healing and recovery is apparent from this thought-provoking chapter. Throughout the various chapters and perspectives, the book addresses the practical and therapeutic needs of survivors, with a focus on the creative resources survivors may find useful and the insufficiency of these in general terms. The central theme of the book is evidently healing and recovery from abuse and abusive situations.
Attention is also paid to the fundamental need for psychological understandings of the complex issues that professionals can expect to deal with in relation to recovery from abuse and abusive situations across a range of different settings. The concept of healing is introduced early on to differentiate long-term development from that of immediate or short-term recovery within the therapeutic process. Many of the authors use Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to guide the therapeutic approaches that they describe and suggest that practitioners should employ in their work. However, there is valuable caution raised by many of the contributors against thinking that one approach will work for all situations, even for similar types of abuse. Indeed the importance of working carefully, empathetically and courageously with victim-survivors as individuals once they have sought assistance is clearly emphasised throughout the volume and the need for this to be individualised and tailored to individual needs is unmistakably acknowledged by different authors. Chapters can be read as related and informative accounts of practice but might also serve as useful documents in relation to supervision and training of practitioners working and developing skills in this area.
Jacki Pritchard has managed to bring together a knowledgeable and experienced group of authors, who add differing perspectives to views of recovery and healing from abuse – these are linked concepts that are interwoven throughout the text. The chapter authors also provide helpful hints to keep practitioners and those they work with on task and there is good use of case vignettes throughout. In short, the volume is an accessible, easy to read manual, which includes numerous tips about how to work with vulnerable individuals who are trying to develop beyond their victim status. This book should be on a list of required reading for all health and social care professionals and is clearly a “must have” book for any practitioner working with the aftermath of abuse, in whatever context it appears.
