Recovery Histories Call Out to Practitioners
Are you a practitioner who has worked with children or adults with lived-experience of child sexual abuse?
The Recovery Histories project is recording oral histories with practitioners who have worked with children or adult survivors of any form of child sexual abuse. We are interested in all the ways practitioners have supported children and adult survivors of child sexual abuse, what this meant for you and how you understand trauma and recovery following child sexual abuse.
Why oral history?
The perspectives of policy makers, lawmakers and politicians dominate historical archives, meaning that the firsthand experiences and knowledge of practitioners are easily lost or not recorded at all.
Practitioners have lived and worked through periods of significant development in how child sexual abuse is understood and responded to. And yet little is recorded about the emotions involved in this work, what it was like to work in a particular context or how it felt to implement policy on the ground from practitioners themselves.
Our project is producing a history that goes beyond policy frameworks, legislation and high-profile inquiries to paint a holistic picture of the past as it relates to child sexual abuse, trauma and recovery. Through oral histories we can gain new insights and perspectives from the very people at the helm of child protection and safeguarding as well as from those providing therapeutic and community-based support and use these to shape practice going forward.
Who is eligible to take part?
We want to record oral histories with a wide range of practitioners and professionals. If you have worked in any capacity with children or adult survivors of any form of child sexual abuse, we invite to you take part in recording your oral history with us. This includes educators, health professionals, religious leaders, social workers, therapists, youth workers or voluntary sector practitioners and more. You may be an artist or someone who works with animals or in nature. You may be retired, newly qualified or somewhere in between. We believe that every practitioner has a story to tell and new perspectives to share.
If you are a practitioner who has worked with children or adult survivors in the island of Ireland, or in England, Scotland or Wales, contact us to find out more.
Who we are and how to contact us
Ruth Beecher and Katie Elliott are coproducing oral histories with practitioners.
Katie Elliott is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the project. Her PhD explored media representations of child sexual exploitation and the experiences of specialist practitioners. She has many years of recent experience as a practitioner in gender-based violence services.
Contact us on at recovery-histories@bbk.ac.uk to find out more about recording your oral history.
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
