Abstract
Reviewed by: Kate van Heugten, University of Canterbury, New Zealand DOI: 10.1177/1468017317728657
This book by associate professor Margaret Pack provides rich insights into the impact of trauma work on therapists and makes invaluable recommendations on how to maintain self-care.
The book is aimed at all human service professionals who work with people who experience psychological trauma, although I think it speaks most clearly to counsellors and psychotherapists who engage in clinical practice with people who have experienced sexual abuse or assault. The book also contains important information for supervisors and managers of organisations that employ or otherwise engage trauma therapists. Throughout the text, the author draws on her qualitative interviews with 22 sexual abuse counsellors, all of whom were contracted to deliver such counselling by the New Zealand government’s Accident Compensation Corporation under its scheme for sexual abuse survivors. The inclusion of additional interviews eliciting the perceptions of counsellors’ significant others adds a frequently overlooked dimension; the author is to be congratulated on this. Insights drawn from these qualitative interviews are supplemented with anecdotes from the author’s own past experiences as a trauma therapist.
Pack emphasises that workers who experience vicarious trauma should not be pathologised, and the importance of this message is stressed throughout the ensuing chapters. For example, a chapter addressing supervision considers the negative impacts of shame in supervision and how supervision can further isolate rather than support supervisees. By contrast, “a dialogic relationship . . . supports the safe exploration of existential themes, uncertainty and complexity” (p. 81). A chapter on organisational perspectives considers how workplace conditions can promote or hinder workers’ resilience. There is also a chapter on critical incidence debriefing (CID) that considers strength-based approaches to CID following workers’ exposure to potentially disturbing traumatic incidents.
Each chapter includes an up-to-date review of academic literature; however, the overall emphasis is on supporting practitioners. The resulting book is, therefore, more clearly a self-help resource rather than an academic text.
The author’s interest in Gestalt and narrative therapeutic techniques is reflected in a story-telling approach. Readers looking for a quick reference guide that lists step-by-step interventions for specific issues may therefore be disappointed, but most readers will likely appreciate that the author’s approach is more holistic. Chapters include reflective questions, checklists, weblinks and resources, as well as recommendations for further reading. The final chapter employs Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model to draw together the ideas that have unfolded in earlier chapters under a cohesive umbrella. Here, Pack notes the importance of attending to building supportive conditions at all levels, from micro (interpersonal) relational settings to macro (including socio-cultural) societal discourses.
This sensitively balanced book, written by an accomplished social work academic and experienced trauma therapist, is important reading for human service workers. It is particularly relevant for practitioners who counsel sexual abuse survivors and their supervisors. Managers will also find helpful reminders about the relevance of organisational cultures and contexts, and information suggesting how supportive working conditions can be maintained.