I was hesitant about wading in on the debate in the wake of the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut a week ago. While we were all so shocked by the senseless deaths of so many children, school staff, and the gunman’s own mother, and without proper context, it did not seem appropriate to draw attention to a possible link with my own cause; but in the wake of the NRA response, which calls for even greater arming of the population, I feel no such restraint. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Parent abuse
“If Lanza ( ) had been confronted by a qualified armed, security guard ..”
Filed under Discussion, news reports
Adolescent to parent abuse in print
Great to see Amanda Holt’s book published this week!
This represents a real milestone in acknowledgement of the issue of parent abuse, with the first academic book entirely devoted to the issue in Britain. Not quite the go-to book for Christmas present ideas maybe, but definitely one to slip through for yourself.
You can read more about it on the Policy Press blog.
Filed under publications
Jailed for life for killing his mother
There was coverage in the media in Britain this week of the tragic case of Leah Whittle, stabbed to death by her son, then aged 16 years, in “a ferocious attack” in July this year. The killing is presented as an isolated act of violence, though coming from a disturbed family situation. The death of a parent is not always linked with previous patterns of parent abuse, and there is much here that we do not know. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, news reports
Responding to parent abuse in Hillingdon: safeguarding adults as well as children.
I was privileged to speak last month at the London Borough of Hillingdon Safeguarding Conference, where I gave a presentation on parent abuse to around 160 delegates from health, social care, education and youth justice, as well as council members. Before I’d even started, I was excited to hear from the chair of the Children’s Safeguarding Board that they have developed a cross-over with the Adults Board, where shared issues are brought to attention, such as substance use and mental health. There seemed a real possibility that parent abuse might also be discussed here in future – more of that later. Continue reading
Filed under conference report
Parent Abuse: a parent’s worst nightmare?
“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
Filed under Discussion
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
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
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
HOLES IN THE WALL 