Service User Perspectives: The impact of childhood bullying
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should have a fuller appreciation of the emotional impact of childhood trauma later in life.
Christine spent time in care as a young child from the age of four and was later diagnosed with a hearing impairment. Although her older sisters protected her while they were in care together, later on she became the victim of their bullying. In this video, she recalls some of the things they did to her and talks about the impact this had on her emotionally.
Between August 2012 and August 2013 the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) co-ordinated a project to record video oral histories of people whose lives have been affected by experiences in residential and foster care. Four volunteer interviewers, themselves formerly in care, were trained in oral history interviewing techniques and conducted the interviews. This video is an extract taken from a fuller interview with Christine which is now lodged with the British Library.
To find out more about the Care Leavers' Stories Project and to view further films visit www.scie.org.uk/socialcaretv.
Reflective Questions
- From an adult perspective, what communication issues can you identify in Christine's account of being bullied as a child? What as a social worker could you do to avoid the pitfalls evident here?
- Christine says, 'I don't know what it was about really, I still don't.' What do you think might have been going on?