Trauma, Abandonment and Privilege looks at the effect on adults of being sent away to board in childhood and the problems associated with boarding. Innovative and challenging, it aims to help readers understand the emotional processes of boarding and the psychological aspects of survival, outlining the steps toward recovery and the psychological repercussions.
A practice-based book richly illustrated with images, case studies and exercises, Trauma, Abandonment and Privilege discusses how ex-boarders can be amongst the most challenging clients for therapists. Written by Nick Duffell, who pioneers therapeutic work with ex-boarders, and Thurstine Basset, a past director of Boarding Concern, it also explores how ex-boarders frequently struggle with intimate relationships with spouses and partners and offers interventions and strategies for those working with ex-boarder clients.
Relevant to academic and casual readers alike, Trauma, Abandonment and Privilege is written with equal parts candour and expertise, as Nick Duffell and Thurstine Basset assist ex-boarders to come to terms with their experience whilst helping the audience to understand the psychological trauma of the ex-boarder. They tackle different subjects, including the managing of separation and loss; sex, puberty, gender and abuse; the healing process and unmasking survival patterns.
Succinct and straightforward, this book provides a comprehensive exploration of the problems associated with boarding, which have only recently been acknowledged by mainstream mental health professional and expands the conversation of boarding schools and their political, social and cultural significance.
About the Authors:
Nick Duffell is a psychotherapist and trainer in private practice who pioneered therapeutic work with ex-boarders and specialist training for psychotherapists. He is the author of The Making of Them: The British attitude to children and the boarding school system and Wounded Leaders: British Elitism and the Entitlement Illusion – a psychohistory.
Thurstine Basset worked as a social worker, mostly in the mental health field, before entering the world of training and education in the 1980s. He has subsequently written and produced a variety of training packages, articles, book chapters and books in the mental health field. Early in the 21st Century, he attended a Boarding School Survivors Workshop and was a director of Boarding Concern, an organisation that supports boarding school survivors.
