Hi everyone,
I know this was only part of the recommended reading, but I'm going to comment on the Everstine and Everstine reading. This was definitely a tough read. I was struck again too, in the reading, by how a singular trauma or a series of traumatic events can have such far-reaching consequences for not only the victim, but those who surround the victim, like an interconnected web of trauma. Everstine and Everstine talked about the family's reactions, especially parental denial or overwhelm, as well as tending to siblings. There was a really interesting section about emotionally impoverished families, who can't properly emotionally support the child, and so a surrogate adult can be brought in to offer the comfort the child is needing. The actual therapy cases were interesting and also really heartbreaking, especially Jean, whose trauma was so complex and longstanding.
I think sometimes it's hard to imagine just how horrifically humans can act towards one another. I know as a social worker, I want to try to get (in Dr. Larance's terms) "radically curious" and find empathy for and understanding in another's actions, even if not condoning them. But, some of the things here, make that really difficult. And I'm sure that was just the tiniest scratch on the surface. It might be useful to talk more about this as social workers. I know the Perron and Hiltz article talked about burn out and secondary trauma, but I'm not sure that covers enough of the conversation to just say that this can happen or even how to--though this article did not--protect against burn out and secondary trauma. Do we spend enough time looking at our shadow, whether personally or collectively? It's uncomfortable and I don't think we should dwell, but for the sake of preparedness, or even so that it does not come out in unexpected ways as I think Carl Jung would argue, I think it's important to take a look at once in a while to be able to better process it.
Best,
Melissa