Specialist practitioner and trainer of the Response Based Practice
Since 1999 when I attended my first training by Dr Allan Wade, It has been amazing to deepen my knowledge and integrate the approach to my therapy and counselling work. I have found it so inspiring to see how my clients have felt empowered and changed deeply the way they saw themselves.
I have been a trainer for over 30 years and I have given seminars, lectures and training workshops in this approach at AVA, The Havens – Kings College, Women and Girls Network, Respect, Relate, Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service, Peterborough Womens’ Aid, Ealing IAPT, Ealing Staff Counselling Service and East London University and more recently Goldsmith University.
Currently, I am teaching the response-based approach to the MA Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling at the Minster Centre.
I publish the website www.rapeisnotsex.com which offers a response-based perspective on how people respond to rape and how our language fails to provide accurate descriptions of rape.
What is Response-Based Practice?
The response-based practice was developed by Dr Allan Wade, Linda Coates and Nick Todd in Canada. It is based on the very perceptive notion that people respond to abuse and violence in ways that aim to stop, limit or prevent abuse. This is called resistance to abuse.
Yet often people think they do nothing to stop the abuse, or that if they did not succeed to stop the abuse they are to blame. Society tends to portray victim-survivors as passive and deficient, and RBA challenges this notion.
All our responses to abuse can be seen as apt and healthy. They represent our voice, our comments on the ordeal we are withstanding. When they are difficult to bear, we can aim to assuage them without having to think they were wrong or a sign of illness in the first place.
Challenging self-blame and challenging how society tends to blame victims is another crucial aspect of the therapy. Exposing violence and clarifying responsibility is vital in addressing self-blame and in helping us make sense of our responses to abuse.
In therapy, the five areas of Response Based exploration are:
- Recognising, understanding and honouring all forms of resistance to abuse
- Recognising and challenging blame – self-blame and social blame
- Challenging the pathologizing of victims and their responses
- Clarifying responsibility – violence and abuse are unilateral actions against one another, it is not mutual.
- Exposing violence will lead to a better understanding of resistance to violence and make sense of the intensity of responses from the victims-survivors
“Whenever people are badly treated; they resist”
Dr Allan Wade
Training in the Response-Based Approach
I have many short lectures, one-day workshops and weekend training in this approach. I can centre my training on domestic abuse, but I use this approach for all experiences of oppression and victimisation. My courses combine presentations, practical and analytical exercises, demonstrations, and open discussions.
Please click here to contact me to discuss your training needs.
Trainee testimonials
“This was an incredibly valuable and informative weekend. It was taught in a very effective way, giving insight and providing helpful strategies to use in client work, as well as shedding light on societal assumptions about this topic that need to be challenged.”
“As a disabled person, I felt the model taught was not only valuable in the context of working with Domestic Abuse but felt relevant to work with clients who have faced other forms of oppression.”
“A very good blend of case studies, technique and discussion. Martine held the group well and spoke with enthusiasm and honesty. I left feeling inspired, satisfied and curious to learn more. Thank you”
Publications
Renoux, M. & Wade, A. (2008). Resistance to Violence: A Key Symptom of Chronic Mental Wellness. Context June, 98:2-4
Todd, N., Wade, A., & Renoux, M. (2004). Coming to Terms with Violence and Resistance: From a Language of Effects to a Language of Responses. In Strong, T. Paré, D. (eds.) Furthering Talk. Advances in the Discursive Therapies. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.