A Toolkit of Sensitive Practice for Professionals Working With
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OPEN HEARTS & OPEN MINDS A toolkit of sensitive practice for professionals working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse Jeff Moore, Christine Thornton, Mary Hughes and Eugene Waters OPEN HEARTS & OPEN MINDS A toolkit of sensitive practice for professionals working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse Jeff Moore, Christine Thornton, Mary Hughes and Eugene Waters CONTENTS • Acknowledgements 4 • Contributors 5 • Foreword by Mary Higgins, CEO, Cara Nua 6 1 Introduction: how to use the toolkit 7 2 Institutional childhood abuse in Ireland: an overview 11 3 Experiences in care: what childhood in an institution was like 23 4 The impact of institutional childhood abuse: statistical information 31 5 Developing sensitive practice 36 6 Dealing with disclosures: a guide for the practitioner 46 7 Self-care: a necessity for the practitioner 53 8 Enhancing resilience 62 9 Further reading on sensitive practice 68 • End notes 69 Published by icap (Immigrant Counselling & Psychotherapy) and London Irish Centre, 2014. © icap 2014, all rights reserved. icap is a registered charity no. 1079353 and a company limited by guarantee no. 3917115. Registered address: 96 Moray Road, Finsbury Park, London N4 3LA. 2 Acknowledgements ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Saint Stephens Green Trust. Starting in 2011, SSGT funded the development and delivery of training for practitioners and volunteers working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse (ICA). This toolkit came from the research and consultation which underpinned the training. We also acknowledge the continued funding of the Irish Department of Education, the Irish Health Service Executive and the Department of Foreign Affairs Emigrant Support Programme in Dublin. QUICK LINKS We acknowledge the expertise and skills of the practitioners who gave their time MAIN so willingly and contributed enormously to the project. In particular we would like CONTENTS to thank Marie Aubertin, Simon McCarthy, Jennie McShannon, Phyllis Morgan, Sally CHAPTER 1 Mulready, Geraldine Reidy, Dr. Mary Tilki, Francis Whelan and Helen White. CHAPTER 2 We would like to thank several authors whose research inspired the project: Professor CHAPTER 3 Alan Carr, of University College Dublin, for kindly agreeing for his report to be disseminated CHAPTER 4 during the training sessions and throughout this toolkit; Schachter, Stalker, Teram, Lasiuk CHAPTER 5 and Danilkewich whose work with survivors of sexual abuse was inspiring and greatly influenced this toolkit; Paddy Doyle for kindly allowing the re-production of a timeline CHAPTER 6 illustrating the history of institutional abuse in Ireland. We also acknowledge the wide range CHAPTER 7 of authors involved in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. The CICA was the CHAPTER 8 primary reference for this project and remains the most important text on ICA in Ireland. CHAPTER 9 Above all, we would like to thank the survivors who took part in the project, and to END NOTES acknowledge their generosity and courage. We sincerely hope that your involvement will lead to survivors of ICA receiving more sensitive and appropriate engagement from community organisations and public bodies. We felt privileged that you trusted us with your experiences of engaging with information and advice service providers, and were moved and inspired by the strength and resilience you have shown throughout life. A physician once asked Elie Wiesel, “How does one treat survivors of the Holocaust?” Wiesel replied, “Listen to them, listen very carefully. They have more to teach you, than you do them.” Open Hearts & Open Minds: A toolkit of sensitive practice for practitioners working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse 3 Contributors CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Moore Jeff Moore is currently the Jigsaw Programme Coordinator at Headstrong - The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Jeff was previously Director of Welfare for the London Irish Centre where he managed the largest welfare services for Irish people outside of Ireland, including information and advice services for emigrant survivors of institutional abuse. Jeff’s recent research includes a needs analysis of the Irish community in London QUICK (2012) and an impact assessment of the Benefit Reform Act on the Irish community LINKS in London (2013). Jeff holds an MA in Community Development from Goldsmiths, MAIN (University of London) and is working towards a PhD with Dublin City University. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Christine Thornton CHAPTER 2 Christine Thornton is Clinical Director of Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy CHAPTER 3 (icap), and an organisational consultant in private practice. icap is the leading voluntary organisation offering culturally sensitive psychotherapy and counselling to Irish people in CHAPTER 4 the UK. In 2012, an independent study found icap particularly effective in working with CHAPTER 5 people who normally find it hard to access and sustain psychotherapy and in particular CHAPTER 6 survivors of institutional abuse. Christine holds an MSc in Psychology as well as clinical qualifications, and has had a professional interest for many years in the interplay of CHAPTER 7 professional and personal life in the caring professions. Her latest book, Group and Team CHAPTER 8 Coaching [Routledge, 2010] has been translated into both European and Asian languages. CHAPTER 9 END Mary Hughes NOTES Mary Hughes is qualified as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, registered with UKCP, a counsellor and a teacher, and for 12 years worked as a psychotherapist at icap. She has been involved in psychotherapy, training and teaching for over 40 years, in the NHS, the Voluntary Sector and in private practice. Mary has many years of experience in working with people from the black, ethnic minority and LGBT communities in a variety of settings including Community Education, Social Services, UCL Student Counselling Service, AGIP (The Association for Group and Individual Psychotherapy) and University College Hospital London. Eugene Waters Eugene is the County Childcare Manager for Wicklow in Ireland, responsible for overseeing the quality of care to pre-school children in the county through delivery of training and support, such as the roll-out of universal child protection training within the sector. Previously, Eugene spent seven years working in London, in the areas of community development, financial inclusion and adult education. Eugene holds a BA in Human Development from St. Patrick’s College (Dublin City University) and an MRes in European Public Policy (Birkbeck, University of London) and has published in the areas of local governance, community development and migration. Open Hearts & Open Minds: A toolkit of sensitive practice for practitioners working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse 4 Foreword FOREWORD Mary Higgins, CEO, Caranua* Open Hearts & Open Minds makes an important contribution to QUICK highlighting the experience of people who as children experienced LINKS abuse in institutions in Ireland and to help practitioners who come MAIN CONTENTS into contact with them as adults, to recognise their needs and to respond to them in ways that are sensitive and positive. CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established to hear CHAPTER 3 evidence from people who had spent time in institutions as children. It concluded that neglect, together with emotional, sexual and physical abuse, CHAPTER 4 was both systemic and endemic in those institutions. The effects of this CHAPTER 5 regime on those who experienced it have been both devastating and long CHAPTER 6 lasting, manifesting in many physical, psychological and social ways. CHAPTER 7 Understanding the causes of presenting needs and difficulties is crucial to CHAPTER 8 effective diagnosis and intervention but the connection to institutional abuse CHAPTER 9 is not well made by mainstream practitioners. Survivors have reported END that they do not feel that their early experience is well understood NOTES and as a result are not confident in revealing information about those experiences. This situation compounds the sense of shame and secrecy that is felt by so many survivors, and leaves their needs unmet. I believe that Open Hearts & Open Minds can help to address this situation by filling the gaps in information and knowledge and offering tools to practitioners in addressing the needs of survivors effectively, while at the same time helping them to listen and learn from them about their strength, resilience and capacity to recover. * Caranua is an independent Irish State Body set up to help people who, as children, experienced abuse in Institutions in Ireland and have received settlements, Redress Board or Court awards. Open Hearts & Open Minds: A toolkit of sensitive practice for practitioners working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse 5 QUICK LINKS MAIN INTRODUCTION CONTENTS HOW TO USE THE TOOLKIT CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 In this chapter we look at: CHAPTER 3 Who and what is the toolkit for? 8 CHAPTER 4 Background to the research and education project 8 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 Developing sensitive practice 9 CHAPTER 7 Self-care 9 CHAPTER 8 Using the toolkit 10 CHAPTER 9 The limits of use of the toolkit 10 END NOTES Open Hearts & Open Minds: A toolkit of sensitive practice for practitioners working with survivors of institutional childhood abuse 6 1 Introduction: how to use the toolkiit WHO AND WHAT IS THE TOOLKIT FOR? This toolkit aims to help professionals and volunteers who