The voices of women and young people who experienced domestic violence

Abstract

Women and young people who have experienced domestic violence view themselves through an abuse-dominated lens, causing thin descriptions of themselves. Research was undertaken with seven women and eleven young people to explore how they had experienced domestic violence and to co-author and co-construct new stories of identity. This research addressed how a narrative pastoral approach guides therapeutic conversations with people who have experienced domestic violence. A narrative approach has at its heart the notion of decentred practice and an ethic of care. Reflective letters after each group meeting played a central part of the research. The letters were structured to tell the alternative stories emerging during and between sessions. These stories were told and retold and in each telling the women artd young people experienced alternative views of self and joined others in this re-writing. Participants spontaneously continued to meet beyond the completion of the research