Good Practice in Promoting Recovery and Healing for Abused Adults

Therapeutic support offered to victims of abuse whether experienced in childhood or in adulthood is often not considered or planned properly; in many instances a victim's definition of recovery and healing may differ vastly from how a professional views those processes. 'Good Practice in Promoting Recovery and Healing for Adults Who Have Been Abused' explores the idea of 'recovery' being something physical in the short-term and 'healing' as an emotional process for long-term work. The book features chapters written by practitioners and researchers from various backgrounds and gives an insight into how to be creative in helping both male and female victims through recovery and healing processes. The prologue introduces the views of victims themselves before the opening chapter considers how recovery and healing should fit into the adult safeguarding process. The chapters then describe creative therapeutic methods which can be employed to help victims recover and to heal in different settings, whilst highlighting the long-term effects of abuse and the subsequent issues to be addressed. The issues covered range from child sexual abuse, domestic abuse and sex trafficking to the abuse of men and holocaust victims. With pedagogical features throughout, the book is essential reading for social workers, nurses, housing officers, support workers, counsellors, therapists, and for anyone working with adults who have experienced abuse in childhood or adulthood. This series explores key practice areas for professionals working in social care, health care and the probation service. Contributors are drawn from a wide variety of settings, both in the voluntary and statutory sectors.

Hilary Abrahams is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Violence Against Women Research Group at the University of Bristol. She has worked extensively on the support needs and service provision for families where domestic violence is an issue, including a major research project evaluating the housing and support schemes funded by the Safer Communities Supported Housing Fund.

Christiane Sanderson BSc., MSc. is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton. With 26 years' experience working in child sexual abuse, sexual violence, complex trauma and domestic abuse, she has run consultancy and training for parents, teachers, social workers, nurses, therapists, counsellors, solicitors, the NSPCC, the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Committee, the Methodist Church, the Metropolitan Police Service and the Refugee Council. She is the author of Counselling Skills for Working with Trauma, Introduction to Counselling Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma, Counselling Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and The Seduction of Children, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Judith Hassan, OBE, is Jewish Care’s Special Advisor on Therapeutic Work with Survivors of War Trauma. She has a BSc (Hons) in Human Relations and is a qualified social worker. Judith has worked for Jewish Care for 42 years and considers they have always been the vital support for the services for survivors. For 36 years she pioneered and developed specialist services for survivors and refugees, both as a practitioner and as director of the services. She founded the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre. She trains professionals and consults internationally on how to work with the effects of war trauma. Her work is widely published. She was awarded the National Care Awards Lifetime Achievement in Care in 2007, and an OBE for Services to Holocaust Survivors in 2008. Judith feels privileged to have been engaged in such rewarding work.