If you’re not using your trauma…
The NSW Mental Health Commission is of the view that that a history of trauma and/or mental illness among NSW prisoners should be regarded as ‘the norm’, and that these experiences directly contribute to criminogenic risk.
Research suggests that childhood maltreatment increases the likelihood of future criminal behaviour by between 50 and 80%. Over 75% of adult sexual offenders report their own history of childhood sexual abuse. Those sexually assaulted as children are seven times more likely to be assaulted again in later life.
…you’re wasting it!
It was from the living context of these numbers that Boy Not There emerged. Two scholars and NSW Justice inmates, while confronting their own profound histories of abuse, were struck by the scale of the statistics. Compounding their own challenges were a six month waiting list for prison psychological referrals, purposely limited contact with external social supports, and zero access to trauma-informed interventions.
Their need lead to the recognition of a wider one: With overwhelming connections between abuse and pathology, and limited interventional options, it is essential to amplify the voices of male survivors of sexual violence, heighten public and clinical understanding - and break the cycle of ongoing abuse.
In spite of the barriers innate to their setting, the inmates combined their lived and academic experience and worked with staff to design a therapeutic creative writing program, aimed at giving other victim/inmates autonomy over their pasts. The success of the program lead to local and international conference presentations, university seminars, and the development of a research-based interventional writing framework currently used in several custodial centres.
More significantly, their work lead to recognition of the need for lived experience advocates and interdisciplinary scholars to work collaboratively towards social awareness and change.
