Abstract
This article summarises a presentation to the Complex Trauma Institute (CTI) in July 2020 and a subsequent online seminar. Domestic abuse is a common theme when considering complex trauma, as Herman (1989) noted and addressed by more recent researchers and commentators (see, e.g. Van Der Kolk, 2015). Domestic abuse is a site of knowing and not knowing, denial and action. While we can work with people who have experienced violence and abuse in their intimate relationships, the field is contested and politicised. Differential understandings, processes and professional remits concerning domestic abuse are addressed. In the development of responses to domestic abuse and complex trauma, early writers and activists saw their work as grounded in wider social movements. Over time neoliberal discourses and practices have become dominant, replacing the idea of social change as the part of remit of the state with the concept of government as a minimalist actor supporting free markets. Neoliberalism is arguably inimical to the delivery of public services and this has implications for those who have experienced complex trauma. An understanding of the different professional languages, research and practices in use, in tandem with an understanding of the importance of how services are funded, designed and delivered have implications for both practitioners and more broadly in Herman’s terms, those in need of safety, remembering and mourning, and commonality.