SHATTERED LIVES By Camila Batmanghelidjh Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishing Price 13.99 176 pages ISBN 1-84310-434-2
This is a quick but far from easy book to read. The intention is to show the reality of growing up within or on the edge of an abusive family with no protection. Camila does this through the use of letters that she writes to young people that she has known through her work.
This gives the reader an account of the events of these young people's lives and an understanding of their internal processes and behaviours as each young person struggles for survival. She devotes special attention to the violence exhibited by young people, which, for a reader unaware of the reality of abuse and the effect this has on trust and self-worth, ensures that this behaviour is understood as an adaptive response to an abusive life.
This book also shows the inadequacy of services that are unable to accommodate or help young people that are marginalised and, in some cases, violent or seemingly beyond reach or hope.
For those that work with young people who are surviving the effects of an abusive or neglectful family, this reaffirms that the work is hard, that young people may be cruel, unkind and violent and that workers may feel pushed to the edge. Workers may also find themselves drawn in to replays of a young person's childhood rejection.
The book calls for proper support for workers and will help those that work with young people to acknowledge and understand feelings of hopelessness that they may experience. Ultimately, the book bears witness to the realities for young people trying to survive abuse and is a condemnation of the current society that fails to understand and protect those very same young people.
- Reviewed by Antoinette Long, assistant information officer at The National Youth Agency and a trainee psychotherapist.
