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Dr Karen Shannon, 2020. Reaching In – The Value of CAT Skills Training in Non-Statutory Community Services. Reformulation, Summer, p.26.
At the time of writing we are in week 9 of lockdown in response to the pandemic. Our human need for connection, has necessitated creative ways of reaching out remotely or from a distance. Covid-19 is allowing us to pause, connect within ourselves, and space for our natural world to heal.
In polarisation, the threat of this virus is everywhere, all the time, for everyone. It is traumatic; intensifying psychological distress. Cavernous social and economic inequalities in society are highlighted. Sadly, social problems including domestic abuse have escalated, seeing an estimated 30% increase of cases.
The Domestic Abuse Bill designed to give local authorities a legal duty to provide refuge for victims/children was delayed in Parliament for three years. It was not a priority.
When lockdown began victims were left in their homes with their aggressors, rising tensions and no escape. To compensate non-statutory services have reached out to victims. For example; pharmacies, an essential service during covid-19, provide safe spaces outside the home for victims to call protective services.
Women’s refuges continue to provide safety and support for those fleeing abuse.
For the past 6 years I have been reaching into local charitable organisations to enhance, via CAT training and reflective practice, relational care of vulnerable people. In particular, colleagues and I have provided three women's refuges in Merseyside with CAT skills training and reflective practice. Without multidisciplinary input and reduced resources, CAT has enabled staff to be the intervention within which to invite clients to feel safe and engage in change; to protect themselves and their children.
In this article Steph demonstrates the powerful impact of attuning to enactments within our environments, services, within ourselves and our clients. With little resources, and in difficult circumstances, having relational awareness reminds us what is possible to achieve, for the care and protection of others.