Last week, by far, marked the most challenging group session that I have ever led for child witnesses of domestic violence. The subject topic was abuse. This topic is always a hard one to address, due to both the serious nature and high level of pain associated with the matter. A large majority of the children with which I have had the pleasure of working with over the past six weeks come from extremely troubling backgrounds, having seen/experienced far more pain than any person should ever have to undergo throughout his/her lifetime. Amazingly, which I think says a lot about the success of the group, the children were ready and eager to talk. They wanted their experiences validated. They wanted someone to listen. My co-facilitator and I were able to do this job. We can validate emotions. We can listen. We can give support. However, sadly, a limitation does arise. Without a professional license, I cannot help these children to relive/reprocess this events, something they desperately crave. It makes me sad for the present; yet, motivated for the future, as I definitely now know I want/need to pursue higher education/training in order to effectively help this population.
Currently, I am working on referrals for these kids. The Center for Child and Family Health in Durham has wonderful resources. They use empirically supported treatment plans and accept many forms of insurance, in addition to Medicaide (the plan that the majority of my clients have). Everyone who I have spoken to at this agency is upbeat and positive. They work individually with children to ensure a successful treatment plan. Hope remains in the future. It simply is hard, when you encounter so much pain (physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, domestic violence, verbal assault, etc) in a child, and there is no way for you to erase that feeling of violation and sadness away. That memory of pain will always remain with the child. The question becomes, how does the mental health field help a child to reprocess this event in order to move successfully forward in the future. Is it possible to live happily ever after?
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Throughout this blog you have done a fantastic job of talking about the issues you see during sessions, while still respecting the privacy of the individuals you work with. You have just done a tremendous job in sharing this important work publicly, while respecting this incredibly sensitive subject. It has been fun to follow your efforts this summer!
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