News

I can’t face the subject: do I have to do this training course?

This question was put to me by a care assistant at 9am one morning when I had arrived to provide a training course on elder abuse in a residential home. It is a common plight in many different settings for workers who may have been abused in the past or are currently living in abusive or violent situations.

I have been providing training courses on both child and adult abuse for the past 13 years. I am becoming more and more concerned about the considerable numbers of workers who disclose to me that they have been abused, and many of them have been unable to tell their managers that they will find the training course difficult.

This raises all sorts of issues for the worker and the trainer, but also for managers and their organisations.

I usually train two or three days each working week. During the past year I have kept a record of how many course participants disclose to me about abuse - it is exactly one third - this includes men and women. Some have been abused in childhood or earlier adulthood, some are still involved in abusive or violent relationships.

Various situations arise on courses and participants have had a variety of experiences.

- Some have dealt with their abuse issues and have healed. They feel they can now deal with other people’s abuse and during a course may even want to share some of their experiences.

- Some have unresolved issues and cannot face working with abuse or having to come on a course.

- Some have buried the past, want it to remain well hidden, but know that at some point in the future - but definitely not now - they will have to face what happened to them.

- Some believe they have dealt with their own abuse and are ready to work with service users who are being/have been abused. However, the course throws up issues for them and they realise they are not ready to face this work.

The trainer can be faced with all sorts of behaviours: withdrawal, crying, aggression, and on occasions I have had participants being physically sick. Inexperienced trainers (especially those who may have volunteered to become part of an in-house training pool) may struggle with these problems and it is important that they are prepared by:

- Not training alone, so one trainer can deal with the participant who discloses.

- Having a spare room for the comfort and safety of the disclosee.

- Assessing whether the disclosee will need further support.

- Having support networks for themselves which they can use to debrief after the course; trainers also need support!

But workers should not have to be put through this. Organisations have a responsibility to protect their workers from further abuse, which is what it feels like for some workers when they have to attend a course on abuse. Other workers may never have given "abuse" much thought, apart from reading the cases which are highlighted in the press.

Organisations have to acknowledge that a large number of their workforce may have been victims of abuse or violence. So they should:

- Publicise in detail the course subject matter. Workers should be alerted to the fact that the course may be difficult or distressing for some workers because of personal experience.

- Ensure that workers know they can talk to their managers in confidence about their personal issues and anxieties relating to attendance at a training course.

- Allow workers to opt out of attending the course if it is going to be detrimental to their emotional well-being.

- Offer support or referral for counselling/therapy if a worker has unresolved issues regarding their own abuse.