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The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog: Chapter 5 Reflection

In Chapter 5 of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, The Coldest Heart, Bruce Perry visits with 18 year old Leon in prison in order testify at Leon's sentencing after Leon brutally assaulted and murdered two teenage girls.  Perry explored Leon's background and attempted to find answers as to why Leon would commit such a crime and ultimately linked the murders to Leon's attachment (or rather lack thereof) growing up as a child.  Leon was raised with frequent prolonged periods of being left alone, which triggered adverse attachment responses later on in his life. 

I truly appreciated the amount of compassion Perry held for Leon throughout his exploration of the case.  Perry very carefully took the time to understand Leon's background beyond diagnosis and gathered information that could assist Perry in depicting an accurate timeline of the events that took place leading up to Leon's crime.  I specifically appreciate Perry’s perspective in working with Leon because there is a high likelihood that if Leon encountered another practitioner, they would have dismissed Leon and treated the testimony not as objectively as Perry did.  Though on multiple occasions, Perry recognized his own counter transference with Leon and remained vigilant as to not let his biases cloud his work. 

This chapter, in particular, made me think about the question that we have all been asked more than once while studying to become social workers: What populations would you be unable to work with?  This question aims to engage us in our own biases and make us aware of how our own experiences can dictate what we bring forth when working with clients.  For me, I believe that I would have a very difficult time working with a client such as Leon.  At the very least, I would definitely need to seek lots and lots and lots of consultation! I admired and felt Perry’s empathy as he began to describe Leon’s experiences as a child; empathy is not something I struggle to tap into, even when reading about Leon’s story.  Rather, I believe the true difficulty that I would find in working with people who have committed violent crimes is my own fear.  I find that if I am focused on my own safety, it is difficult to focus on others, which would ultimately distract me from doing my best work with a client.  With this in mind, as an emerging practitioner, I believe it is crucial to find my own boundaries so that way I can do my best work with clients.

Comments

  1. ElodieJuly 12, 2018 at 2:41 PM

    I was very impressed with Dr. Perry's "poker face" during their meeting too. I don't know that I would have been able to remain that calm. It's like that phrase though that says "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." In other words, I think Dr. Perry was really able to view Leon from his heart and have empathy for him without any judgement. Sure, he had committed an awful crime but Dr. Perry still gave him his undivided attention without giving him any negative comments regarding the murders, even after he showed he had no remorse, whatsoever.

    I think that's a great point you make about not being able to work with individuals like Leon because it would make you feel unsafe, and therefore, make your client sense that you're scared. Doesn't it remind you a bit of what it was like being at Spirit Reins? When I stepped in to talk to Champ I was nervous at first and then I had to get out of my head in order to feel calm. When I was hesitant, I knew that Champ could sense that. When I decided to just let go, that's when he followed my lead and let me walk alongside him. I thought it was really telling of how we feel in the room when we're in session with clients. We have to be able to self-regulate if we want our clients to try and attempt the same.

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