Trauma and Offending: Re-Enactments in Staff Teams*

This article is primarily a response to the way core complexity associated with forensic mental health practice is frequently overlooked. It will be suggested that this is, at least in part, as a defence against fully recognising that with very few exceptions, those who have been convicted of violent offences warranting compulsory detention due to having inflicted traumatic experiences on others, have also been the victims of interpersonal abuse. Importantly, these intertwined experiences reflect internal models for relating which are activated in closed treatment environments. The combination is challenging for individual staff members, teams, and organisations, with all involved vulnerable to engaging in re-enactments of the patient's victim and offender histories, whether as victim, perpetrator, or the ubiquitous bystander who turned a blind eye. The aim of this article is to explore and clarify this core victim/perpetrator/non-protecting bystander dynamic as it emerges in closed forensic settings reminding service providers to adequately equip and support the workforce with learning and reflective spaces commensurate with the emotional labour required for relational work with interpersonally complex offender populations.