“A human rights framework in trauma work"

Some people survive trauma only to find themselves continuing to live in very real danger of further deliberate harm. This happens, for example, on a large scale where the state uses repressive violence against communities and at a personal level in many types of intra-familial violence, but there are many other illustrations. One of the first steps that we often make as therapists is to clarify that the traumatic experience has come to an end and that the survivor is ready, and feels safe enough, to deal with the emotional components of their past experiences. Victims of violence may come from disadvantaged or minority groups in society and it is often insufficient to rely only on the goodwill of the majority population to achieve this sense of safety. It is essential that there should be human rights policies with the force of law to protect vulnerable people and allow them to achieve justice and a sense of efficacy. This year is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an inspirational document prepared after the Second World War, and yet, unfortunately, human rights abuses remain all too common. The interplay between the legal framework of human rights and the therapeutic framework of clinical practice is not always straightforward to negotiate. Problems may occur, for example, for refugees who escape from persecution but whose legal cases in their new country of asylum take years to settle, children experiencing continuing abuse but who are too afraid to talk, adult rape survivors who feel too ashamed to disclose and who would expect a prosecution to fail anyway. An ethical framework for our practice is required which fully takes into account the therapeutic needs of the survivor; their legal right to justice, protection and acknowledgment of harm done; and their personal wishes.

Conference

English

S. Turner

Turner, S. (2008, June). "A human rights framework in trauma work." Keynote presented at the 9th EMDR Europe Association Conference, London, England