Engaging those with complex


trauma through ‘belonging’ Michelle Newman Brown


“Human beings were made to connect with other humans. It is not only essential to our thriving but to our very surviving.” (Amelia Franck Meyer in a TED Talk in Minneapolis, 2016)


A concept of ‘belonging’ ‘Belonging’ is a broad concept that has been vaguely defi ned


and under-theorised (Anthias, 2006; Antonsich, 2010; Mee & Wright, 2009; Halse, 2018) and, according to Youkhana (2015, p. 12), ‘belonging’ is “still a rather new theoretical term”. It mostly goes unnoticed, unspoken and unrecognised, despite the fact that, psychologically, it is as essential as food and shelter. It is only when it is subjected to scrutiny or threatened in some way, that the eff ects of ‘belonging’ become apparent to us and yet its early signifi cance is as critical as life and death. It is highly topical in so many aspects of our lives as: “Questions


of ‘belonging’ and the politics of ‘belonging’ constitute some of the most diffi cult issues that are conf onting all of us these days as a new arena of political and cultural contestation” (Yuval-Davis 2011, p. 1)


Emotions and ‘belonging’ Wright (2015) argues that ‘belonging’ is a complex term that


has diff erent meanings for diff erent people. She suggests that it is important to acknowledge the emotion of ‘belonging’ and we ought to consider how it is felt, used, practised and lived. It is this coming together in emotionally connected, relational ways that defi nes what it means to ‘belong’ (p. 393). Wood and Waite (2011, p. 201) report that how ‘belonging’


actually feels is still not discussed very much, meaning that how it works as an emotional at achment and the signifi cance for the emotionality of ‘belonging’ is still not widely explored in literature. Halse (2018) says there needs to be further examination of the processes of at unement and at achment, and how these can actively be created. T e emotions that we feel when we belong to any group


cross a multitude of feelings ranging from euphoric, positive, and affi rming, as a result of being included, and/or negative, destructive emotions, such as loss, rejection, loathing, intolerance and racism towards outsiders of the group. From a therapist perspective, our experiences of enabling ‘belonging’ can, as a result, work on shiſt ing the beliefs more to the positive side of the emotional spectrum. According to Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary (1995), a sense


of ‘belonging’ develops under two conditions: 1. Frequent positive contact with the same group or person 2. Relational experiences over a period of time In this article, I am focusing specifi cally on ways in which


we, as therapists, can re-channel this sense of belonging with our client group. My primary work context is with children who live in therapeutic care-facilities and their staff as well as foster, birth and adoptive parents and siblings, providing therapy, training and consultations.


26 Refl ections on my therapeutic journey T roughout my work, I have considered the varying degrees of


creativity I employ within the approach, techniques and choice of interactions with my diff erent clients, as being the signifi cance in enabling the joining between us. I thought of it as weaving in and out of intensity, and that the use of the metaphor and symbolism, which I use most of the time, provides a safer means of working with chronic emotional pain and trauma. Yet, on refl ection, I now wonder whether I have not been considering this deeply enough. Now, giving the concept of ‘belonging’ greater consideration, it


occurs to me that it was ‘belonging’ that was being achieved with my clients when I called it “at ending to creativity”. It is not just that if we allow ourselves to play or be creative, it means the clients are more relaxed or that we have found a more accessible tool or technique; it is also more than achieving at unement or positive therapeutic relationships. I now believe the core to our human need is being met when we


at end to the minutiae of seeking connectivity and ‘belonging’ and, if we can develop positive experiences of ‘belonging’, that we have a far simpler and stronger platform to at end to the more obvious presenting traumas. Yuval-Davis (2011, p. 10) focuses on understanding and diff erentiating between how people ‘belong’ and describes it as involving an emotional or ontological at achment of feeling ‘at home’ and in a ‘safe space’ even when these feelings are not warm and positive. Unfortunately, for my clients, as a result of their lived early experiences, ‘belonging’ has primarily been formulated on the negative understanding of the spectrum. I have therefore provided a few vignet es from my clinical work


where I believe the concept of ‘belonging’ can be evidenced in the changes taking place in therapy (all clients’ names have been changed). Whilst these are examples of individual work, my thinking is still


Context 169, June 2020 In a current training I deliver to foster carers, I maintain the


following as a mantra; T erapeutic intent…is that we keep working on helping young


people to experience ‘belonging’ SOMEWHERE so they can have the opportunity to experience a sense of ‘belonging’ ANYWHERE. Of course, I am not so naïve as to expect this will be the case


for everyone, but to hold this as a basic philosophy means my therapeutic focus is looking at the initial micro-levels of need for every individual. Yes, I hear that the clients are violent, that they have sleep traumas, eating disorders or enuresis, but my belief is that if they can have an experience of connecting with me, feeling and experiencing that they ‘belong’ with me, in a secure relationship, understood and safe for short bursts of time, then I can more easily enable the young person or family to believe it is possible to at end to the range of their presenting traumas.


Engaging those with complex trauma through ‘belonging’


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