A Practitioner Reflects on Recording His Oral History
Retired GP Dr Howard Cohen, reflects on his experience of recording his oral history with the Recovery Histories project. If you are a practitioner who has worked with children or adults with lived experience of child sexual abuse, contact us to find out about recording your oral history.
A few months ago, I agreed to record my oral history as a retired GP about my professional involvement in child safeguarding. I agreed to do this having met the principal researcher at a seminar as part of my post graduate studies at Birkbeck. I wanted to do this both to be helpful and to gain a greater understanding of how the oral history process worked. Coincidently, I was approached at the same time to record my oral history on another topic, sexual health practice and education.
I found both experiences to be very positive and thought provoking. My initial apprehensions, mainly that I would have nothing much to say or what I did say would show me up as an imposter, were soon forgotten. The sessions were well set up, comfortable and welcoming. I felt I was listened to attentively and my thoughts and recollections valued. I felt that I was in a safe place to articulate my feelings and reflections.
I was surprised how easy it was to speak for the duration of the sessions, I don’t now remember how long they were, maybe a couple of hours. It was possible to reflect on the personal meanings of the episodes that I described, and I was struck by my emotional responses to the challenging experiences that I recalled. I was given the opportunity to reconsider past events from my current perspectives, realising that what I remembered as problematic through the actions of others, demonstrated my anxieties and insecurities at that stage.
I would recommend others to agree to share their oral histories, it will be fine, and you will get a lot out of it. It will be much more than doing the researchers a favour, it will at least an opportunity to talk about yourself for a while with a captive audience.
MORE INFO ABOUT THE PROJECT
www.shra.bbk.ac.uk/projects/recovery-histories/
CONTACT US
Telephone: 020 3926 3679/ 020 3926 2813
E-mail: recovery-histories@bbk.ac.uk
