Working with incest survivors

SUMMARY

The purpose of this paper is to convey more widely the existence of this kind of specialist group in the NHS. We also wish to show some of the advantages and disadvantages in setting up such a group to other professionals who may be considering the possibility of starting an incest-survivors group. The paper describes the group which ran at the Psychiatric Day Hospital at the Whittington Hospital for forty weeks: how we adopted the group structure; some of the problems we faced; and some of the emotional issues generated in therapists and patients. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness of such a group.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D Berry

David Mann is a Senior Art Psychotherapist; Janne Sumner is a Senior Occupational Therapist; Joy Dalton is the Consultant Psychiatrist for the Whittington Day Hospital; and Denise Berry is a Staff Nurse at the Day Hospital.