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Life after Centrepoint: Accounts of adult adjustment after childhood spent at an experimental community

2011; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

0112-109X

Kerry Gibson, Mandy Morgan, Cheryl Woolley, Tracey Powis,

Identity, Memory, and Therapy

This study explores how former child members of a controversial community, in which child sexual abuse and drug use are known to have occurred, account for the effects of this on their adult lives. The narrative accounts of 29 participants were analysed to identify key areas of psychological adjustment they described after leaving the New Zealand community known as Centrepoint. Participants’ accounts highlighted challenges in negotiating the initial transition, family relationships, friendships and intimate relationships, livelihoods, stigma and changing belief systems. Themes within participants’ accounts reflect disadvantage and suffering as a result of growing up at Centrepoint as well as some advantages, also attributed to this environment. While this research shows that there may be some significant adjustments to be made after childhood spent in such communities, it also cautions against a polarized perspective which focuses exclusively on either positive or negative consequences of this kind of experience.