Recovery-Promoters: Ways in which Children and Mothers Support One Another's Recoveries from Domestic Violence

Abstract

Breaking with the tendency to focus on the deficits and pathologies of domestic violence victims, this article explores how children and mothers with past experiences of domestic violence may play key roles in effectively promoting one another's recoveries. Thirty participants from the UK (fifteen mothers and fifteen children) took part in qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The participants were current or former service users of organisations such as Women's Aid, and were recruited through these organisations. Only a minority of participants had accessed refuges. Data were thematically analysed using the Framework approach. The findings of the study suggest that mothers and children often require professional supports to begin recovering. However, recovery occurred not only through formal interventions; mothers and children themselves used a number of successful techniques to promote each other's long-term recoveries and well-being. These included reassuring one another about the past, present and future, rebuilding each other's confidence and self-esteem, and assisting one another to understand the past and overcome its emotional/behavioural impacts. This article discusses the ways in which formerly abused mothers and children accomplish this important recovery work, and assesses the implications for social workers and other practitioners.