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Disruptive endorsements, reviews and feedback

NB Disruptive was updated and republished as Please Believe Me in February 2013!

Photograph of a review of “Disruptive” in Rostrum magazine (“the voice of social work in Scotland”), January 2011. Click to see larger, or click on the link in the accompanying text to see a PDF.

“An invaluable resource…The book is really important for practitioners in child protection”

1. Disruptive received a glowing review in the January 2011 issue of Rostrum magazine, “the voice of social work in Scotland”:

THERE IS so little research on the long term outcomes for people who experienced public care in childhood that the memoirs of people who have been in care are very important to understanding how the decisions and recommendations that we make as social workers – and the way that we communicate and work – impact on young people’s lives as they grow up through our public care systems.

These books are an invaluable resource both for students and also experienced practitioners to reflect on their own practice of listening to young people. Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that we listen to the views of children and young people and take them into account when making decisions in their best interest.

Disruptive is the revisiting of childhood experiences, sometimes very traumatic, of a happy wife, mother and paramedic following a sexual assault by a colleague at a period when she thought she had left behind being the victim of abuse in childhood. Angela revisits her childhood emotionally and intellectually.

Many practitioners in mental health and criminal justice services will have heard tragically similar accounts. But this book allows us to think through our own practice in listening to people, creating that opportunity when people learn to trust us with that awful information that they fear to share with anyone else because it may risk another rejection. It brings home the importance of the social relationship in connecting with people who have been abused so that they can get back the self-esteem to gain control over their own lives and move on.

From the social work perspective, this book is particularly good at highlighting the methods parents, carers and children go to hide what really happens behind closed doors. It covers loss and bereavement revisited at various times in childhood and the importance of just being there for someone who has not yet worked out if you can be trusted or if you can help. From this aspect, the book is really important for practitioners in child protection.

2. Six reviews have appeared on Amazon. They’re all excellent!

3. Endorsements from organisations:

Reveals a larger slice of the bigger picture
Angela has not only retold the events on a ‘surface level’ basis but she extends a hand to the reader and takes them into the depths of her experiences, sharing the innermost vulnerable parts of those experiences. I believe that this story needs to be told. It reveals a larger slice of the bigger picture (in terms of the impact of abuse) than many other books of its kind.

Helen Munt, Office Manager, National Association for People Abused in Childhood

Particularly helpful
This book […] would be particularly helpful to those who work or intend to work professionally with children and young people, in helping them to understand the impact that a damaged, disrupted childhood can have on a person’s life, behaviour and relationships.

Pauline Pearson, Dip. Counselling, Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service

Well-written
Angela suffered neglect and abuse in childhood, the legacy of which resurfaced after she was raped as an adult and resulted in her being sectioned. Although graphic at times, this well-written story tells how she emerged a stronger person, wanting to help others.

Jenny Stucke, Project Manager, Directory and Book Services

Angela has also received this message from a reader:

Hi! I’ve finished reading your book. I’m shocked at the awful things you have experienced. It made me cry on several occasions. It has certainly made me think differently and has made me more open-minded regarding certain jobs at work [as a paramedic].

Having had a wonderful childhood and a relatively non-traumatic life since, I didn’t quite realise what a shit life some people have. Keep smiling. I think you’re very brave.

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