The terrors of night and the arrows of day. Social workers' processes in the aftermath of murder

This paper provides extended extracts from interviews conducted with three social workers interviewed for a study enquiring into social workers' experiences of stress. For the purposes of this study, experienced practitioners were asked to recall a time that stood out for them in their minds as causing them stress. They were asked to describe the experience, to say how it had affected them, how they responded to it and what they had found helpful and unhelpful when attempting to deal with the experience. The three participants quoted in the paper all talked of their involvement with service users who had killed others. They describe personal and organisational responses to the murders and tell of internal processes and responses from others that were found to be helpful and unhelpful. The 'haunting' quality of such experiences is apparent throughout accounts, as is the relevance of psychodynamic theory and concepts. The importance of creating and using a therapeutic space in which it is possible to have ideas about how such stress can be thought about is emphasised.