Episode 3: Jacqui Allen

Today on The Salience Podcast we do a deep dive into culture and child sexual abuse in institutions. 

Today’s topic could be raw or triggering for some listeners. I encourage you to continue listening, though as always, there’s a fine line between having an appropriate emotional response, perhaps one that signals to you to act, and the sort of signal that lets you know that you should probably tap out and get some support to process your lived experiences. If you need guidance, check out our book Resilience by Design (Wiley). 

Our guest today is Jacqui Allen. Jacqui is a lawyer by training, and for the past decade or so has been working in various government organisations supporting people and culture. As part of Jaquie’s work, she has led investigations into misconduct and sexual abuse.

I’ve worked with Jacqui, and during our conversations, I realised that she makes sense of the world in some unique ways. She has an exceptional memory, and at the same time, she can manage her memories in ways that are protective to her. She can process very disturbing cases of child abuse, and not take on other people’s trauma vicariously. 

Jacqui is also very focused on evidence in her work. And this is critical of course to both protect children from abuse in institutions, and to protect workers from false claims and allegations. 

In today’s discussion, we explore the concept of weak signals, culture, and child safety, and we unpack a little of how Jaqui thinks and shields herself from Vicarious Trauma.

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