ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the impact of personal encounters with violence. Each person's experience of these will be unique, but needs to be dealt with, both personally and professionally. This is critical if we wish to help someone else address their use of violence. The organisational and professional context of violence is not just about failings in how organisations respond to those situations where violence is emanating from the people receiving services. Organisations themselves, and the way their staff work, may sometimes abuse their power and inflict or compound the violence that those with whom they are working have experienced. For example, social work's record in supporting the safety and protection of women and children experiencing domestic violence is varied. Many social work agencies do incredible work with those who have suffered abuse and violence. The ability to be self-aware and to regulate emotion is now accepted as a key element within the overall conceptualisation of social work competence.
