Non-Violent Resistance in Trauma-Focused Practice

This book presents Nonviolent Resistance (NVR) for trauma‑focused care, adopting a systemic and trauma‑orientated approach to aggressive and self‑destructive behaviours in young people. Based on systemic therapy methods and principles in socio‑political NVR, NVR targets aggressive and self‑destructive child behaviours in a relational way to help parents develop self‑efficacy in responding to the problematic behaviour and grow a supportive community around the family. In this book, Peter Jakob integrates the original NVR model with aspects of trauma and attachment theory, solution‑focused therapy and narrative therapy, in order to expand the efficacy of NVR in trauma‑focused work. Grounded in Jakob’s extensive clinical experience and research, the book will help the reader navigate the complexity of working across various systems in family therapy and counselling, particularly within challenging contexts such as multi‑stressed families, adoptive families, foster‑ and residential care. Method descriptions and illustrative case examples are featured throughout the chapters to ultimately help readers contribute to their clients’ (re)discovery of their internal and interpersonal resources and ultimately promote healing from trauma for everyone involved. This text is an essential resource for a wide variety of mental health professionals, social workers and family workers, as well as caregivers and managers in residential care.