Reclaiming lives from sexual violence : understanding shame through innovative narrative therapy / Tim Donovan, Dale Johns.

Paying reverence to the stories we hear -- Ethics of care and understanding practices of self -- Revealing and grasping the coat of shame -- The politics of men's pain : informing our 'walking alongside' each other -- Deconstructing negative identity conclusions -- Exposing the coat of shame and fighting to claim what is already yours -- Positioning yourself in ways that acknowledge strength in what you stand for -- Wrestling through shame and sharing stories of resistance -- Discerning shame and speaking the truth with integrity : Dale's Tree of Life -- Dale's re-claiming of integrity : 'sharing a glimpse of my story with explicit detail' -- The joining of stories as a political act -- Making visible the signs of social and psychological resistance -- Dale moving out into the world with confidence in knowing the truth and having a deeper understanding shame -- Connecting it all together : linking neurobiology, the body and narrative practice with Dale's emotions, through story telling.

"This book takes an innovative approach to using narrative therapy in counselling people who have been subject to childhood sexual abuse. Reclaiming Lives from Sexual Violence presents an illustrative case study of the authors, Tim the therapist in consultation with Dale the client, who was sexually abused as a child by a clergy member. The book is unique in documenting their therapeutic work using transcripts taken directly from their sessions together. This narrative approach invites the reader to consider different ways of engaging in therapy in order to challenge the dominant social discourses around masculinity and shame. Looking at shame from a position of value awareness rather than a deficit perspective, this book extends counselling to consider the individual experience as political and one that must be shared outside the one-to-one therapy environment. This will be an essential resource for beginning or established therapists and practitioners working with clients who have been victims of sexual violence"-- Provided by publisher.