‘I’m Not Like Other Men’: Counsellor’s Intimate Lives BY Cam Arkle
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- čas přidán 27. 05. 2024
- ‘I’m Not Like Other Men’: The Intersection Between Vicarious Processes and Male Sexual Violence Counsellor’s Intimate Lives BY Cam Arkle
Explore with us the complex interplay between the professional roles and
the personal lives of counsellors. While existing studies have examined the
effects of delivering sexual violence counselling on female counsellors, our
project looks at how this impacts their male counterparts. Through
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of semi-structured interviews, we
hope to uncover the nuanced dynamics surrounding sexuality, intimacy,
and gender among male sexual violence counsellors. Preliminary results
offer intriguing insights, revealing a distinct approach to navigating the
impacts of their work compared to female counsellors. Interestingly, male
counsellors demonstrate a tendency to show resistance when discussing
the effects of their work on their personal lives, perhaps reflecting a
complex interplay between vulnerability and the maintenance of their
professional and masculine identity. Join me as we delve into this thought-
provoking exploration of the intersections between male counsellors and
their relationship to vicarious processes within sexual violence counselling.
USE THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE ACCOMPANYING HANDOUT FOR THIS PRESENTATION: bangoroffice365.sharepoint.co...
Im wondering your take on VT for therapists now ? I think you said that some therapists were not aware of the MSV before entering the profession, which seems extraordinary, that aside, I wonder if generally Therapists have good resiliance for MSV because they expect/anticpate to encounter some of the worst aspects of humanity.
It was a pleasure collaborating on this project with you Cam, and really interesting to see your take on it. It seems significant that your awareness and openness wasn't reflected within the sample. How do you think this gap is informing current practice within sexual violence counselling in our field?
To me, it could suggest that older or even current training programs are not inviting enough or sufficient reflection or introspection for male sexual violence counsellors or that they are resistant to do this when it comes to the area of sex and intimacy. Training programs need to be aware of the taboos and resistance to talking about sex and intimacy so as to inform trainees and develop ways to work with this resistance and overcome it. Thank you for all your support with the project!
What a valuable topic - quite shocking that many men where unaware of some of the issues addressed here. It shows how much more work we as a field need to take one to move this ocnversation forwards. The concept of threatened masculinity and vulnerabiity may come in to play here, admitting vulnerability is a second threat to their masculinity so perhaps it is difficult for some male counsellors to face potential vicarious trauma and bring it to supervision. It seems that some male counsellors may be unaware of some of their own internalized masculin norms that may inhibit such vulnerablity which may in turn impact their longevity, safety and efficacy in the field - what do you think?
I think this is a very valid and interesting point that may explain the resistance in the interviews. Furthermore, as you say, their is perhaps a lack of introspection into their own biases and internalisations, which is perhaps something that is impacting their practice also. It would interesting to see how they approach working with men in this field also. The role of stigma is something that needs to be addressed in future research and tackled practically within men as a whole.
I'm incredibly grateful for your unique perspectives on our project, they have influenced my own understanding greatly! Since I found myself go through a complete arc of change in terms of my perception of the interviews and the participants themselves, I was curious if you found your views towards the data evolve much from your first read?
The feeling is mutual; triangulation was a very informative procedure for me. I think I had initial frustrations with the transcripts but then understood them as a product of the taboo and cultural influences of the 'supposed and proper' ways to talk about sex and intimacy. It seems we need to do more to tackle these biases and introjections within male sexual violence counsellors perhaps.
Super presentation. Really well presented and information. Do you think the age demographic would make a difference in how educated men are around consent and male victims?
Hello, yes, I imagine that it would. This was not in the scope of our study so this is perhaps something future research could look at. From a personal perspective, the research team and I felt more informed about the intricacies of this area before beginning our own work and practice than the men in our study. Perhaps this is a cultural and generational effect due to increased awareness of issues of SV, including things like #MeToo in 'Western' countries and Four No's (4B) in Asia.
Hi Cam- phenomenal work, as always. This is an incredibly important area of research in counselling and I think you handled it sensitively. My question for you- what did you do to protect yourself from vicarious traumatization during this project (research, data collection) and in your personal counselling work? Thank you!
Thank you, for me I really valued both personal supervision and therapy as both my therapist and supervisor work alot with trauma and they both took an interest in the reflective nature of the work. They have been my biggest aspect of my self care.
Very interesting watch, thank you for sharing this Cam. If you were able to hear from LGBT+ counsellors themsleves, how do you feel the implications would be impacted?
My suggestion from both anecdotes and the literature is that gay men have more emotionally close and intimate relationships with women as opposed to heterosexual men. This is interesting as this suggests that heterosexual men's sexual attraction to women does not necessarily guarantee this closeness. I believe the insight and difference in ways of relating between gay and straight men will certainly influence the way they discuss sexual violence, specifically against women. This may also suggest that their ways of working with sexual violence may differ as well. An area for future research perhaps.
Really valuable research here Cam! What do you think were your barriers to gaining more participants or what could have improved recruitment in hindsight?
The biggest barrier was likely the shame and stigma of talking about sex and intimacy. Including other countries in our sampling may have helped with the lack of sign-up. Thank you.
Hi Cam, I was curious on if there is a neutral stance of the male therapist working with sexual trauma, as in it may not be coming from a saviour complex, not it is shielding themselves from "those males". Where could one position oneself in such a therapeutic relationship and tried to be the best of help?
This is a very theoretical question, so it really depends on your therapeutic orientation. Some counsellors would argue that you can never be neutral when it comes to sexual violence. Some others would say that you must remain neutral so as to not overshadow the client's process and meaning-making. So it's really up to you as long as you operate in a ethical and boundaried way with the client, as well as being informed of their trauma and it's impact on them.
Hi Cam! Looking back on this study is there anything you think you would have changed regarding data collection? :)
I think fundamentally, we lacked participants; I think in future, we would expand data collection beyond the UK so as to cast a wider net and hopefully get a larger participant base to study. This way, we could also look at the effect of culture on the way their work influences their personal lives.
Hi Cam! Really enjoyed your presentation! As this is quite a difficult area of study, I was curious if your work on this project had any impact on you and how your own position as a counsellor played into your interpretations of the results. Apologies if this is a loaded question.
Thank you. As I said during the discussion, I felt, at times, a great sense of frustration because of the resistance to discussing sex and intimacy because I myself am very open about these topics. This was the most pressing issue for my positionality, and I believe this held back deeper reflections and insight for the participants; as such, it limited the data richness, perhaps.
Hi Cam, just to clarify what do you mean by IPA?
Hello Gemma, IPA stands for Interpretive Phenomenological Anlysis, this is a qualitative thematic analysis method which focuses on how participants make sense of their experiecnes. So for our study we looked at how their work in SV had impacted on their sexual and intimate lives.