Exploring the experiences of domestic abuse survivors working in the field of domestic abuse support: assisting recovery or re-victimisation revisited?

Abstract

Women’s domestic abuse support services have developed over the past decades with the inclusion of women surviving abuse as practitioners themselves (Mullender and Hague, 2001; Slattery and Goodman, 2009; Bemiller and Williams, 2011). Following a literature review of this area, women ‘survivor support workers’ or ‘peer support/mentors’ have rarely been given the opportunity to articulate what it is that they are gaining personally and the impact in undertaking this emotionally challenging work. This small-scale study considers the voice of women survivors working in the field of domestic abuse support work, affording them the opportunity to explore the benefits and the costs to them as survivors of domestic abuse when working in this practice area. Twelve women ‘survivor support workers’ from five distinct English organisations took part in this research. Qualitative interviews were then analysed thematically within a feminist paradigm. Findings indicate that there are both highly positive aspects for survivors of abuse working in the domestic abuse sector, and equally, that there are areas of risk where re-victimisation and vicarious trauma could occur.