Ms Felicity Kennedy:

I thank the committee for the invitation to talk about the work of the Women's Therapy Centre. My name is Felicity Kennedy. I am CEO of the centre and I am also speaking somewhat as a practitioner, because I am a psychologist and a counsellor.

The Women's Therapy Centre was formed six years ago. We currently have 43 clients coming to us and 47 clients on a waiting list. We were formed as a therapy centre for women, but what quickly began to happen was that women who had experienced and were recovering from experiences of domestic violence were coming to us. At the moment, one third of those who come to us are referred by the domestic violence agencies, which are the agencies that provide support in the immediacy of the trauma of abuse. Another third of our clients come to us via our website or through word of mouth, and they come for the same reason, which is to recover and go through psychotherapy - a kind of stage of safety, mourning and recovery from the experiences of abuse. At this stage, six years later, we have developed a specialist knowledge on how to work with survivors of the trauma of domestic violence. A mental health service like ours, which has developed a specialist knowledge, is a final part of a continuum of care in looking after those who have experienced domestic abuse.

It is important to stress that those who do this work and who do the psychotherapy work need to have a specialist knowledge. Without a specialist knowledge, there is a danger that people can be re-traumatised. That comes up again and again in the research, and is known as the second trauma. We view domestic violence and the impact of domestic violence as being what is increasingly called complex trauma. This means that if somebody is experiencing the trauma of ongoing sexual abuse, such as physical assaults, psychological traumas and emotional traumas, and these are repeated by an abuser whose intent is to annihilate the self of the victim, then the psychological consequences are complex.

Within the past 20 years, the phrase "borderline personality disorder" has been disappearing and the term "complex trauma" is replacing it in order to work with the complexities of the symptoms people experience. In doing the work, therapists need to understand not just the intent of the abuser and the intent of coercive abuse, which is to get into the head of the victim, but they need to understand the symptoms of trauma and the symptoms of complex trauma, and to be able to work with people who have lost trust in themselves, lost trust in their ability to judge reality and lost trust in relationships. Those of us who do this work need to be able to listen to stories that are beyond human understanding or human experience. We listen to stories of torture, extreme abuse, the abuse of children, the abuse of old people and we must hear the stories and attend to them without flinching or without showing any shadow of anything other than empathy and understanding. We must be able to provide a relationship. We hear therapists talk about the therapeutic relationship. The relationship in this context is vital and I argue for long-term therapy services because people have lost trust in relationships. Through the therapeutic relationship, healing happens and therefore time must be given to ensure the relationship becomes a trusting one.

Part of the work is that we must watch ourselves that we do not become vicariously traumatised. That involves taking on the trauma of others and we must attend to ourselves. In summary, I call for a mental health service that is a final part of a continuum of care and that it is a specialised service. If we can reach women, we reach children and change communities.