“That trust factor”. A conversational journey with children and young people who have attended therapy as a result of experiencing violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect.

Abstract

This thesis explored the therapeutic intervention experiences of 25 young survivors of violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. This research primarily focused on young survivors’ experiences of therapeutic intervention. Despite the attention on ‘children’s voice’ in the scholarship, the debate on evidence-based practice has largely occluded the expertise of children and young people. This epistemic injustice done to children and young people is further compounded by their exclusion from the design and development of intervention programs. Specific research questions lay the foundations for the study: How do the participants in this study describe their experiences of participating in therapy? What aspects of therapy do the participants in this study experience as helpful? What aspects of therapy do the participants in this study experience as unhelpful? How do young survivors perceive they are epistemically positioned within service delivery and evaluation? The study utilised feminist, child rights, and post-colonial ideas as the platform for theoretical and methodological exploration. Qualitative research methods harnessing in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to gather data. The data were analysed with participants or on my own and then fed into NVivo 13 to assist with data management. The analysis highlighted a continuum of therapeutic service delivery that young survivors had experienced, ranging from collaborative through disconnected to imposed. It also demonstrated the evident ability of these young survivors to analyse the effectiveness of therapy, showcasing the significant contribution that children and young people can make to the debate on improving therapeutic service delivery.