A most inspiring and energetic speaker.
Jenna shared her extensive professional history working with young people and adults, both victims and perpetrators of all forms of domestic abuse and human trafficking. She reflected on her own childhood experiences and how this informs her congruence and working alliance with her clients. Jenna brought together the work of Dan Siegel, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Bruce Lipton and Gabor Mate and the contribution they are each making to our collective understanding of trauma, challenging the misunderstandings of the pure medical model. Jenna spoke about how victim blaming, judging anger and acting out behaviours, cause young people to be labelled, so that they then self-identify as being intrinsically bad and own the abuser’s projection of responsibility.
Jenna explained that perpetrators and victims of abuse need psychoeducation, to understand they are traumatised, and their responses and behaviours are a repetition of their own experiences of trauma. She said recovery is long term therapeutic work, these clients need compassion, understanding and love. Jenna also highlighted the detrimental impact of the internet age and the need for digital detox, and the benefits to clients and therapists of regrounding in nature, it’s free!
Jenna left us with plenty of useful resources for further reading and learning. Her passion and drive for change and her determination to be an activist and advocate for all trauma survivors was truly inspiring. We will most definitely be inviting Jenna to return to HACP for more.
Julie May