“A parent’s worst nightmare” is a phrase which seems to come up all too often these days, and leaves me wondering how many worst nightmares there could be, as it is used in relation to children who are the victims of bullying, predatory abuse, abduction, drug addiction, suicide … the list is seemingly endless. This is not to belittle the experiences of these parents. For each individual parent experiencing one of these events it will indeed seem like their worst nightmare, just as will the reality of being abused by your own child. But perhaps we need to move away from hyperbole towards a calmer rendering of events. As we talk about our passions and commitment to our work we can believe that descriptions of the extreme will further our cause as they “whip up” emotional responses and “convert” people to our way of thinking and understanding. That can happen, but there can also be interesting and unexpected side effects, not least in the unconscious ways we come to construct our own belief systems through the words and phrases we repeat. Continue reading
Creating Change in Parent Abuse
People often ask me about what happens in parallel work with parents and young people – how do you get young people engaged and addressing their abusive behaviour. Adam Joolia, from AudioActive, has very generously shared the work they do with Break4Change in Brighton.
One of the things that makes Break4Change unique is its use of the creative process as a way of reflecting on and embedding the work done in the therapeutic and theory based aspect of the programme. This is where AudioActive, a pioneering youth music and arts charity come in. Continue reading
The Adolescent to Parent Violence Practitioner Forum – doing it different in Leeds
Jenny Bright, of Leeds YOS, has sent me the following report of a highly successful forum meeting in Leeds last week.
The second APV practitioner forum was held in Leeds on the 11th October 2012.The forum originated in Wakefield, initiated and led by Sally Fawcett. Sally developed, coordinated and facilitates the “Do it Different” Teen to Parent Abuse group work programme. In the absence of national direction on the issue of APV, Sally was keen to initiate a “bottom up” approach where practitioners get together to share knowledge and practice. There was an overwhelming consensus from the forum that it should be held regularly and it was agreed that areas would take it in turns to host. Continue reading
Filed under projects, Training opportunities
Understanding Parent Abuse in under 90 minutes?
Writing some training materials recently, I’ve been forced to be more concise than usual about the main issues facing practitioners working in the field of parent abuse at the moment. An hour and a half doesn’t feel very long when there is so much to say!
So far, this is what I’ve come up with. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion
“Parent abuse is a domestic violence issue”
Yet another training opportunity, this time in County Wicklow, Ireland, on Thursday 8th November. The day long seminar is amazing value at €35, including a 3 course buffet lunch. Why would you not go!
Participants will hear from academics and practitioners across disciplines, looking at different aspects of support for parents.
The course programme and details for booking are here.
Filed under Training opportunities
Book your flights to Australia now!
Jo Howard has sent me details of the first national conference on Adolescent Violence in the Home, to be held in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday and Tuesday, 18th and 19th February 2013. Details as below, including a link to register. Further information on the conference, including the programme, and more information about the training being delivered by Lily Anderson on 21st February is also available. Continue reading
Filed under Training opportunities
Free training on child to parent violence
Adfam and AVA have recently announced FREE training for practitioners working with parents abused by substance using children. Training details are available here.
The courses will be held across England, starting in October, with some dates still to be confirmed.
The course follows the release of their report Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
Filed under Training opportunities
News of Break4Change
The Brighton and Hove Argus recently published an article about the Break4Change project as part of a domestic violence feature.
Break4Change, addressing parent abuse, has now run 6 successful courses, with the 7th due to start in October in Brighton. The model, which includes work with parents and young people separately, and places high value on restorative features, is the subject of an ongoing evaluation by researchers at Brighton University, and interest has been sparked around the world, in countries as diverse as Sweden and Bulgaria, Spain and Ireland. Continue reading
Filed under news reports, projects, Research
Widening of domestic violence definition offers hope in parent abuse
A lot of coverage in England and Wales this morning as the Home Office announced the widening of the definition of domestic violence. From March 2013 this will include “coercive control” and lowers the age to include 16 and 17 year olds. While the government’s intention was to make support more readily available to younger victims, the hope is that youngsters abusing their parents will also be covered by this change as the definition seems to make this possible. Changing the definition is of course only the first step. The way that the police respond to calls will be vital to any progress on this front, so a need for training still; and of course without the availability of resources and the setting up of local protocols the changes remain meaningless. I am hopeful though!
For a useful discussion about what the changes will mean, see this article from Jo Sharpen in the Guardian.
Filed under news reports
House of Commons Launch of Parent Abuse Report
The Adfam / AVA report into how parents deal with children who use substances and perpetrate abuse, “Between a rock and a hard place”, launched yesterday at the House of Commons, catalogues the shocking experiences of parents and their attempts to access support. Continue reading
Filed under projects, publications, Research
HOLES IN THE WALL 