Don’t overlook the ongoing trauma involved with domestic violence

We not only need to work on preventing domestic violence but also on working effectively with people who have suffered such trauma, recognising the impact on their mental health.

That’s according to CQUniversity ‘lived experience’ mental health academics Dr Louise Byrne and Trudy Atkinson. Both are able to draw on their own personal experience of mental health challenges to add veracity and authenticity to their research and teaching.

Dr Byrne says that to truly contribute to decreasing both mental health challenges and the incidence of domestic violence, work done in the mental health sector “must recognise and work towards healing the wounds of the past instead of focusing so heavily on the symptoms of today”.

“With a significant percent of mental health issues being trauma-informed yet treated as a biological medical ‘illness’, we contribute to loss of hope, empowerment and potential for recovery,” she says.

Meantime, Ms Atkinson says that, by working with individuals and their experiences, rather than pathologising pain, “we can help rebuild hope and relationships – it is disconnection from hope, relationships and, all too often, unfortunately, life itself (ie. suicide), that is at the heart of the matter”.

“My number 1 tip for working with people from a trauma-informed perspective is to simply ask ‘what’s happened?’ and not ‘what’s wrong?’ … that’s because ‘What’s wrong?’ reinforces shame-based messages; that there is something ‘wrong’ with the person. “In fact, mental health challenges arising from such traumas as domestic violence often occur as a sane response to insane circumstances.”

(Source: CQ University)