Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This paper represents the continuation of my personal and professional journey from
social work student to social work practitioner focusing on my first Practice Learning
Opportunity (PLO). Recognising the potential impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in
a classroom environment is as important as the potential impact on actual practice
learning and practice. This is salient in the real world of social work practice as the
potential misuse of a painful childhood experience has greater ramifications. Utilising the
ideas and assumptions of social constructionism (including context and multivocality) the
significance of silence from social work educators shall be examined in relation to self-
disclosure as a means of aiding PLO learning and practice. This paper will also focus on
the concept of critical reflection and its significance in exploring the transferability of a
childhood experience such as CSA and personal and professional dilemmas regarding self-
disclosure. This paper concludes by highlighting areas for consideration for both students
and social work educators and conveys an important message regarding the importance of
communication between students and social work educators.
Introduction
This paper focuses on my learning and practice in the context of a Practice Learning
Opportunity (PLO) in relation to integrating my experience of childhood sexual abuse
(CSA). This paper does not focus on my learning and development specific to the service
user group I engaged with but integration of previous service user experience. In
documenting my experience of practice and learning I want to draw the readers
attention to the first part of my personal and professional journey. It was written before
commencing the PLO and I reflected on how my experience of CSA may be relevant and
impact on my learning and practice in the field of family and childcare (Smith, 2014).
Correspondence to: Jane Smith, c/o The School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queens University Belfast,
6 College Park, Belfast BT7 1LP, UK.
Literature Review
While I focus on my experience of CSA, I recognise that students will bring a range of
prior personal experiences which may have been traumatic to their social work
qualifying training. Contemporary academic literature illustrates the high prevalence
of experience of, or exposure to, intimate partner violence/interpersonal violence/
family violence (Agllias, 2012; Connor, Nouer, Mackey, Banet, & Tipton, 2012; Zosky,
2013). In the United Kingdom (UK), the term domestic violence is more commonly
used. My understanding of domestic violence is the perpetration of abuse which may
be violent or non-violent against another individual. This abuse may be witnessed by
others. The context of this abuse is two individuals in a relationship which is
emotionally and/or physically intimate who may or may not be living together. The
UK government definition of domestic violence has evolved and from March 2013,
domestic violence is no longer confined to a one-off incident but:
any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour,
violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate
partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can
encompass, but is not limited to physical, psychological, sexual, financial and
emotional. (Home Office, 2013)
The Australian (Agllias, 2012) and American papers (Connor et al., 2012; Zosky, 2013)
highlight the range of terminology used, hint at the context of suffering and how this
may be experienced, but dont explicitly define these terms. This is problematic in
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social work education if students are not offered available definitions of domestic
violence because this forms the basis for learning and challenging what a student
thinks they already know. For example, Connor et al. (2012) refer to intimate partner
violence and ask students if they have a history of personal experience with some form
of physical violence, sexual abuse, intimidation, or threats of violence in an intimate
partner relationship . . . (p. 34) and/or a history of being witness to physical violence,
sexual abuse, or psychological abuse directed toward a family member (p. 34). Zosky
(2013) refers to family violence experienced across the lifespan including child abuse,
adult domestic violence, and elder abuse (p. 242). In this paper, family violence covers
a range of terms and child abuse can refer to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and
neglect. Agllias (2012) explores interpersonal violence with a focus on sexual assault
and domestic violence (p. 260). This seems to be an umbrella term used to describe
types of violence between two individuals. The literature highlights an important
message which is that CSA may not occur in isolation. This means individuals may
have experienced and suffered a range of childhood adversities and bring this to their
social work education and practice. Connor et al. (2012) describe students bringing
personal experience of trauma to their training as having actual knowledge. While
Connor et al. (2012) provide a thorough overview of the potential impact of
possessing such insight and experience caution needs to be exercised as one
individuals knowledge is not equivalent to everyone elses experience of trauma such
as CSA. It is my opinion that an individuals practice will become dangerous if they
begin to believe they have nothing more to learn about trauma outside of their own
experience. Connor et al. (2012) explore the potential impact of students possessing
actual knowledge, including secondary trauma, vicarious traumatisation, over
generalising personal experiences regarding methods of coping and counter
transference. The study by Agllias (2012) focuses on Australian social work students
acquiring the skills and knowledge needed to work with service users in the aftermath
of violence and trauma, especially if the student has experienced previous trauma.
While this study concentrates on IPV, the strategies for safety regarding teaching IPV
are transferable to students on placement integrating the experience of previous
trauma, such as CSA, into their learning and practice. These strategies include on-
going recognition and education regarding self-care and vicarious trauma, developing
a supportive culture in the classroom, and the availability of personalised support and
debriefing. The relevance of these strategies shall be explored in more detail
throughout the paper.
Context
A university setting provides the context for my personal and professional journey,
and Fook and Askeland (2007) explore the place of the personal and the emotional in
learning within their model of critical reflection. It is evident that tensions and
contradictions exist between critical reflection and the cultures of objectivity and self-
disclosure. I value critical reflection as a process for checking basic beliefs, judgements
and assumptions (Lomax, Jones, Leigh, & Gay, 2010) about the individuals I engage
with and how I engage with them. Zosky (2013) states that students belief systems can
be informed by experience of trauma. I bring insight of the experience of being
powerless to my social work qualifying training. My personal and professional journey
has enabled this insight to be translated into an understanding of how power can be
used with an enabling and/or disabling effect. Critical reflection can involve personal
disclosure and acknowledging emotion so this goes against the educational experience
as being rational, objective and individualistic (Fook & Askeland, 2007). However,
to ensure I uphold the ethical principle of Striving for objectivity and self-awareness
in professional practice (British Association of Social Workers, 2012, p. 15) I need to
rationalise and objectify my experience of CSA to ensure the best use of my personal
866 J. Smith
experiences with least harm to the service user and myself. Although this type of
knowledge is not viewed as scientifically acceptable (Fook & Askeland, 2007, p. 527) it
emphasises the person (a former service user and now social work student) as a
valuable source of knowledge to be utilised (Fook & Askeland, 2007). In Social
Constructionism, multivocality is encouraged, which means encouraging different
perspectives on a topic (Witkin, 2012) to emerge. Combining service user expertise
and professional training in an educational context is allowing for a different discourse
to emerge in relation to student social workers qualifying training and in particular
those who bring experience of previous trauma.
Presented is a critical incident of a disclosure of CSA made to me. Thomas (2004,
p. 104) refers to a critical incident as meaning . . . the individual has taken some
action and whatever he or she does has important consequences for him or herself, the
service user, others involved . . . . This critical incident both reveals my own personal
experiences and shares my feelings and reactions as a social work student. While
preparation for direct contact with service users helped me to decide the best use of my
personal experiences, I was also making decisions within seconds regarding whether it
was appropriate to disclose or not and, if not, how could I use my personal
information with best effect for the benefit of the individual I was working with. This is
what I wrote as part of my personal reflection on this critical incident:
I did feel a sharp pang but it was only for a moment but I was able to focus on the
service user and just listen and I was able to see for the first time how well I would be
able to use my own personal experiences by channelling these into empathising.
I think I did really well but now I feel a bit off . There is nobody about and I will be
ok, I just didnt think I would be experiencing this given my practice. I feel a bit
better just for writing this . . . .
Roles
Northern Ireland Social Care Council (2012) outlines the responsibilities of the
practice teacher which include facilitating the learning experience for the student,
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providing regular supervision and directly observing the students practice on three
occasions. I envisaged my practice teacher would be responsible for facilitating
exploration of any issue relating to my learning and practice through critical
reflection. Feilberg (2008) explores use of self which she describes as an umbrella
term for using empathy, critical thinking and self-reflectiveness in building
relationships. Some of these skills are essential to handling effectively emotive
disclosures from service users. Self-awareness and experiences of supervision (Feilberg,
2008) can enable the development of the practitioners own internal supervisor
(Feilberg, 2008). This is why students need to be assertive and push for their childhood
experiences to be placed on the supervision agenda so their relevance and appropriate
use (or not) can be determined by engaging in dyadic critical reflection (Thompson &
Thompson, 2008).
In the context of practice learning all parties have roles. Witkin (2012, p. 26)
discusses how Positioning Theory . . . extends this concept with one that is more
flexible and dynamic. Positioning Theory is associated with a micro context in social
construction which emphasises interpersonal interaction (Witkin, 2012). Positions
represent different discursive stances that individuals . . . adopt, or are ascribed, in
their interactions (Witkin, 2012, pp. 2627) and are concerned with rights and duties.
In the context of my personal and professional journey, educators are in a position of
authority and possess expertise to guide me in my qualifying training but they also
have a duty to provide an environment conducive to my voice being heard. Agllias
(2012) discusses the importance and limitations of the role of the lecturer as a form of
support and resource for debriefing. Agllias (2012) states in her study that
undergraduate students lecturers could not provide therapeutic intervention but
could be contacted for debriefing, which included discussing course material and
alternative forms of support. However, tensions may exist between looking after the
needs of one student or a few students versus a whole group of students, including
additional demands being made on a lecturers time. These tensions may include time
away from a busy schedule with multiple teaching and research commitments and
preparing to listen to students who believe they need additional support processing
course content in relation to their own learning, development and practice. This will
require a lecturer to use excellent time management, organisational and active
listening skills when providing additional support. In relation to my own educators
I was aware of the support they could not offer but felt sure it would be within their
remit to offer support regarding the relevance of my experience of CSA to my practice,
learning and development.
Burr (2003, p. 113) explores how individuals may . . . adopt a position by drawing
upon a particular discourse, or we may assign positions to other speakers through the
part that we give them in our account. Elaborating on this statement, in an attempt to
begin to integrate my experience of CSA into my learning and practice I gave my
educators cues (verbal and written) that I wanted to discuss the relevance of my
experiences. I interpreted their silence in a manner which invoked certain thoughts
and feelings. I didnt challenge the educators non-verbal acknowledgement and
I adopted a passive accepting stance which had a disabling effect. However, my
870 J. Smith
educators may not have intended their silence towards me to actually silence me and
stop me from discussing my experiences. In the interactions between me and my
educators there was no attempt to redefine what the silence meant which could have
offered a new opportunity to integrate my experience of CSA into my practice and
learning.
I have reflected on what, ideally, I would have liked my educators to do and why
when I disclosed my childhood experiences. I would have liked them to say Lets
explore how this is relevant to your training. With the absence of this statement I felt
my social work educators were taking a step back from me rather than towards me in
my learning and development. I want to reiterate the importance of upholding
boundaries between student and educator and maintaining a working relationship,
but the perceived distance contributed to the feelings of loss I experienced and
presented what I believed was a barrier to my learning and development.
Conclusion
It is hoped that this account of my experience of PLO will continue to bridge the gap
between the literature on the service user perspective, essential to social work training,
and the personal and sometimes painful experiences students may bring to their social
work education. A number of important areas for consideration have arisen for both
students and educators where students bring trauma-related childhood experiences to
their practice and learning. I hope both students and educators will give both time and
thought to these. These areas for consideration are specific to private one-to-one
sessions between students and educators.