“They Just Block it Out”: Community Counselors’ Narratives of Trauma in a Low-Income Community

“They Just Block it Out”: Community Counselors’ Narratives of Trauma in a Low-Income Community

Psychology

Arlene Benjamin, Ronelle Carolissen

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

Vol. 21

No. 3

2015

American Psychological Association

Journal article

English

South Africa

Restricted Access

Reconceptualizing trauma has been the focus of many academic debates since conceptualizations of trauma typically are decontextualized and tend to focus on environments where safety now exists. This trend therefore has generated literature that conceptualizes trauma in more complex ways, where mental health sequelae appear to straddle a range of conceptualizations of trauma, such as complex trauma, continuous traumatic stress, and generational cumulative trauma. Broader conceptualizations of trauma are of particular concern in countries such as South Africa, where, even after 20 years since the demise of legislated Apartheid, the gap between rich and poor is the widest globally and poverty is disproportionately prevalent among Black populations. Conceptualizations of trauma that have been constructed in more privileged contexts often do not consider how trauma manifests in low-income environments in relation to inequality and ongoing adversity. Furthermore, the skills and expertise with which mental health professionals are equipped are often appropriate for posttrauma contexts and environments, but less so where conflict and violence are ongoing and where there still is a lack of safety. In these contexts of violence there is little research that explores the narratives of community-based counselors. This article therefore draws on the experiences of women counselors in a low-income community to consider broader understandings of trauma that do not negate the adaptive responses that are required for survival, but also consider the structural, long-term effects of these responses and the role they play in perpetuating cycles of violence and trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Kristen Walker