Of rainbows and tears: Exploring hope and despair in trauma therapy

Abstract

Existential themes of hope and despair are central in the care of child and youth survivors of abuse trauma. Researchers have argued that acts of abuse can disrupt a person's hope while shaking beliefs about purpose and meaning. Practitioners are called to implicitly offer their own hopeful faith in possibility to clients, especially in moments of client despair. However, trauma therapy offers a challenge to the practitioner, prompting us to question our own meaning frameworks. This paper considers issues of hope and despair in practice, for therapist and client, explores existential challenges for practitioners supporting survivors of trauma, and ponders the role of narratives in cultivating sustainable practice. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.