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Discussion 1: Existential Questions and Post-Traumatic Growth

Upon hearing the stories of sometimes horrific atrocities clients or client families have experienced, you as a social worker may find yourself confronting existential questions such as Why? For example, Why do horrible events happen to good people? Why do people abuse their children?

Trying to make sense of such trauma is not easy, and you may seek answers to these existential questions your whole life. And yet, there are opportunities for growth despite trauma for both clients and social workers. This is known as post-traumatic growth, where a renewed sense purpose or a more profound outlook on life is the by-product.

In this Discussion, you work to seek meaning from the trauma your clients experience and the subsequent healing you help your clients achieve in your social work practice.

To prepare:

• Read about trauma-informed social work, and read this article listed in the Learning Resources: Vis, J.-A., & Boynton, H. M. (2008). Spirituality and transcendent meaning making: possibilities for enhancing posttraumatic growth. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, 27(1/2): 69–86. http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1080/1…

By Day 3

Post:

• In 1 sentence, identify an existential question with which you have grappled in relation to a client who has been traumatized.
  • Reflect on your fieldwork, or perhaps identify an existential question that might arise in working with the client in the case study you have selected throughout the course.
• In 3 to 4 brief sentences, describe where there is potential for growth for the client as a result of the trauma.
• In 3 to 4 brief sentences, explain where there is potential for growth for you, the social worker, as a result of listening to the client’s stories and bearing witness to their trauma.
• Describe any challenges you may experience between the meaning you hold based on your personal beliefs and working within the client’s potentially different belief framework.

By Day 5

Respond to two colleagues:

• Provide a suggestion for how a social worker could help clients to understand and make meaning of the trauma within the client’s values and belief framework.

Colleague 1 : KELLY

• Identify an existential question with which you have grappled in relation to a client who has been traumatized.

Why do people that come from a seemingly “normal” family grow up and feel the need to abuse and torture their children?

• Describe where there is potential for growth for the client as a result of the trauma.

Women who have been through a rape and adolescents who have reported going through child molestation gain a lot from attending therapy. During and after therapy they report positive social reactions from others. Survivors also report perceived control over recovery, adapted individual coping and a greater core belief system were also related to greater posttraumatic growth.

• Explain where there is potential for growth for you, the social worker, as a result of listening to the client’s stories and bearing witness to their trauma.

Social workers need to learn from their clients that rape is not just about the victim and the perpetrator. It is everybody’s problem. It is community-wide, and everyone needs to step up and speak out. Education and awareness are important, and nothing is more important than education. Learning from a rape victims’ resiliency is one of the mostimportant things that I have learned.

• Describe any challenges you may experience between the meaning you hold based on your personal beliefs and working within the client’s potentially different belief framework.

I believe that there is good in everyone and some rape victims may find it really difficult to see that in their rapist. It may take several months or maybe even years but one day they may be even able to forgive their rapist for what they did to them. At the time of that forgiveness, they may be able to see small glimpses of something positive and that person.

Vis, J.-A., & Boynton, H. M. (2008). Spirituality and transcendent meaning making: possibilities for enhancing posttraumatic growth. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, 27(1/2): 69–86. http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1080/1…

Colleague 2: ALLISON

COLLAPSE

Class,

My question to a traumatized patient would be “Who are you now after the trauma has settled?” To me, this question is important because trauma can change and manipulate people in ways we may not see. And though there is trauma that changes someone there is so much room for growth moving forward. Growth can happen in their behaviors and emotions. Being able to transform in those two ways alone are enough to be able to bring a person back to the center of themselves with positivity and confidence. One more important way growth can come from trauma is by being able to find acceptance and then share their story with others.

By listening to stories of trauma from my client’s points of view, I am able to learn more about the processes of trauma in different events. Being able to learn from trauma makes me a more competent professional. I am alos more able to assess myself and how I would react andhandle situations like these that work with crisises and traumas. Lastly, I am better able to be more self aware in my life and put what I am going through and handling in perspective with my own advices and processes.

I know that sometimes differences in beliefs can create barriers between professionals and their clients. I think me being cognizant of what is happening and creating the line between the two. Being put in situations that give you that difference in experiences is good for us to grow and work on ourselves to be a better professional.

Allie