Читать книгу Social Work with Sex Offenders - Cowburn Malcolm - Страница 22

Listening to graphic details of offences and hearing personal histories of abuse and neglect may adversely affect a worker’s wider view of the world and personal relationships, particularly in relation to issues of personal safety, trust, power, esteem and intimacy (McCann and Pearlman, 1990). This can involve workers imagining (potential) abusers everywhere, and feeling personally unsafe (Farrenkopf, 1992; Scheela, 2001; Leicht, 2008). Such insecurities may generate increased irritability (Bird Edmunds, 1997), as well as anger and frustration (Farrenkopf, 1992).

In response to these feelings, some workers numb their emotional response to day-to-day experiences and their abilities to respond empathically to harm caused by sexual and interpersonal violence (Farrenkopf, 1992; Bird Edmunds, 1997; Scheela, 2001). Such desensitising inevitably impacts on workers’ professional lives.