Psychodynamic psychotherapy for complex trauma: targets, focus, applications, and outcomes

Complex trauma describes that category of severe, chronic interpersonal trauma usually originating in the formative years of a child. In the adult, this can result in global dissociative difficulties across areas of cognitive, affective, somatic, and behavioral functions. Targeting this field of traumatic pathology, this article reviews the contributions and developments within one broad approach: psychodynamic theory and practice. Brief descriptions of aspects of analytical, Jungian, relational, object relations, and attachment therapeutic approaches are given, along with understandings of pathology and the formulation of therapeutic goals. Major practices within client sessions are canvassed and the issues of researching treatment outcomes are discussed

What parents value from formal support services in the context of identified child abuse

Parents whose children are identified as having experienced or being at risk of experiencing significant harm potentially provide an invaluable dimension to our understanding of the circumstances that result in child abuse or neglect and how best to respond to these invariably complex situations. This paper reports findings from a study of the experiences of six parents. In-depth interviews were conducted with four mothers and two fathers who had been referred to an intensive family support services by the Queensland statutory child protection authority. Using a critical ecological perspective, the study focused on identifying and understanding the experiences of the parents in using formal family support services, including aspects of service delivery that were helpful or unhelpful. Parents also commented on their experiences of statutory child protection services. Service components and worker qualities that parents identified as being helpful included being accessible, targeted and integrated and being able to meet a continuum of needs, from a micro to a broader level. Their reports provide invaluable insight into how formal family support services, including child protection services, can better meet the needs of parents in addressing the recurring problem of child maltreatment

Using resilience to reconceptualise child protection workforce capacity

Current approaches to managing and supporting staff and addressing turnover in child protection predominantly rely on deficit-based models that focus on limitations, shortcomings, and psychopathology. This article explores an alternative approach, drawing on models of resilience, which is an emerging field linked to trauma and adversity. To date, the concept of resilience has seen limited application to staff and employment issues. In child protection, staff typically face a range of adverse and traumatic experiences that have flow-on implications, creating difficulties for staff recruitment and retention and reduced service quality. This article commences with discussion of the multifactorial influences of the troubled state of contemporary child protection systems on staffing problems. Links between these and difficulties with the predominant deficit models are then considered. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance and utility of resilience models in developing alternative approaches to child protection staffing issues

Strategies for encouraging and maintaining hope among people living with serious mental illness

This paper reports part of the results of a study of hope in mental illness. The focus of this paper is on the mental health worker's role in fostering and maintaining a sense of hope in people with serious mental illness. Six experienced mental health workers report on the strategies they use to foster and maintain hope in their clients; and six experienced consumers of mental health services report on things workers have done that have enabled them to develop or maintain a sense of hope. Approaches identified include: working within the client's frame of reference, focusing on the client's strengths, acknowledging small gains, making links to past gains, being genuine, helping clients to understand their illness, understanding the importance of achievement and holding on to hope when the client has none

The identity of displaced Christian Karen in the context of resettlement: threat or opportunity?

More than 200, 000 displaced Karen from Burma have been “warehoused” in displaced persons’ camps on the Thai-Burma border for more than 20 years. Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has embarked on the durable solution of resettlement to third countries for these people. In this paper, the experiences and perceptions of resettlement of Christian Karen are explored through the findings from two focus groups with recently arrived refugees, augmented by contextual discussions with Christian Karen community leaders in Australia. Focus group participants displayed a strong and overt sense of identity, both as individual Karen and as part of the Christian Karen community, locally and trans-nationally, indicating that Christian Karen identity remains intact during displacement and strongly influences the resettlement experience for this group

Permanency planning decision-making for sibling groups: A systematic review of the literature

Permanency planning has become a key feature of child protection systems throughout the world. A core principle of permanency planning is that maintaining stability and continuity of relationships promotes children's growth and functioning. Given this focus on the continuity of relationships, a key challenge for child protection workers making permanency decisions is to consider the role and importance of sibling relationships. This paper presents a systematic review of published research on sibling placements and relationships for children in care. The method is a core component of any systematic review, providing the basis for a rigorous review and also allowing replication. Thus, the paper includes details of the question refinement, search strategy, inclusion criteria and assessments of relevance and quality. Screening of articles identified 11 studies for inclusion in the systematic review. Included studies varied significantly in methodology, definition of siblings and key findings. The review highlights the paucity of research in relation to sibling groups in care and the need for further research in this area to inform permanency planning decision-making