Kim Sindel and Sue Foley Presented by Jenny Rose and Martina Rich

1. A Journey of Recovery in the
Context of Domestic Violence,
Injury to a Young Baby and
Professional Development
Kim Sindel and Sue Foley
Presented by Jenny Rose and Martina Rich

2. Presentation overview
• This presentation will use a reflective, dialogic and
ethnographic approach to analysing the journey of a
parent whose child was shaken, in the context of
domestic violence.
• The parent is now a professional involved with children,
young people and families. The journey and trajectory of
the parent story will be told by the mother, and a social
worker who has recently begun to travel with the parent
on the journey towards advocacy, capacity building and
justice

3. This Presentation
• Kim’s daughter “Jane” was injured as a very young baby.
• Despite medical and police investigations, no one was charged.
• Kim and Sue connected when her daughter was in need of surgery.
• In this meeting it became apparent to Sue that Kim and her former
husband had been in a domestic violence dominated relationship.
• Kim’s subsequent journey of personal and professional growth and
recovery from a trauma journey is the subject of this presentation.
• Neither Kim or Sue can be here so – we made a movie to tell you
the story.

4. Kim’s story

5. Sue’s story
• It was Sue’s interaction with Jane’s father that led her to
identify his disrespect for others and the way in which he
saw himself as needing to be “served” by Kim.
• This seemed to be the first opportunity for Kim to
identify that she had been experiencing DV.
• She used:
• An EMDR type of intervention
• Advocacy with hospital staff
• Case management which Kim was very able to undertake.

6. Three Stages of Trauma Recovery
Adapted from Herman 1992
• Stage 1: Safety and Stabilization: Overcoming
Dysregulation.
• Stage 2: Coming to terms with traumatic memories
and past or current events.
• Stage 3: Integration and Moving On.

7. Discussion Questions
• What is your reaction to Kim’s account of how the
professionals interacted with the parents?
• Do you think changes should be made to assessment
and investigation strategies?

8. References
• Judith Herman Trauma and Recovery (1992) New
York: W.W. Norton.
• MacKinnon, L. (2014), Deactivating the Buttons:
Integrating Radical Exposure Tapping with a Family
Therapy Framework. Australian and New Zealand
Journal of Family Therapy, 35: 244–260.
doi: 10.1002/anzf.1070

9. Contact details
• Sue.Foley@health.nsw.gov.au
• Jenny.Rose@health.nsw.gov.au