Staff Feature:
Ciara Duffy-Gideon
This month we interviewed one of our Early Childhood and Youth Therapists at the Domestic Abuse Project. Check out this interview to learn more about Ciara’s work with youth, and why she’s passionate about what she does.
DAP: What is your role here at the Domestic Abuse Project?
Ciara: I am an Early Childhood and Youth Therapist here at DAP.
DAP: What age group do you work with?
Ciara: I work with anyone ages 0 - 17 in the youth program, but also so much of that is working with parents as well.
DAP: Why is it important to offer services to children who have witnessed DV?
Ciara: That is a good question. I think that often times with domestic violence, we forget about the third party, the children. No matter how young they are, they see it, feel it, and store it in their bodies. Even the youngest ones are really aware of their surroundings and know what’s going on. And although kids are affected, they are often forgotten. I love that DAP has a whole program just for the youth to work on how DV impacts them.
DAP: What do you enjoy most about early childhood work?
Ciara: I love that it’s focused on the caregiver-child relationship. Parenting is really hard, and parenting when you’ve experienced DV or any violence in your past is even harder. This work helps parents reduce their shame and build their capacity for safe and positive caregiver-child interactions.
DAP: Do you think early parent-child intervention is important?
Ciara: Oh my gosh, so important. One of my favorite things about DAP is the Child-Parent Psychotherapy intervention. Play is the universal language of kids, and their caregivers are the most important people to them. Research shows us that early childhood trauma is best addressed through the caregiver-child relationship and the use of approaches such as play, body movement, and creative arts. DAP does a great job of using evidence based practices for DV to address this trauma.
DAP: What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
Ciara: It’s definitely seeing those really little moments in session where the child and caregiver can engage in moments of joy or happiness together. Often times they’ve experienced significant amounts of stress and are focused on survival, so they don’t always get to focus on these litte moments of joy. It’s really rewarding to see.
DAP: What do you wish more people knew about the work you do?
Ciara: I wish people knew how prevalent DV is, whether we label it as that or not. My previous work wasn’t focused specifically on DV, but it almost always has been a component of the kids, the parents, or the extended family of the kids I work with. We need to keep bringing awareness to this, as it’s a part of many people’s stories.
DAP: What’s your favorite part about working at DAP?
Ciara: Gosh, there’s a lot. Of course, I love the work and that there’s a strong emphasis on early childhood and youth programming. I specifically came to DAP because of the use of Child-Parent Psychotherapy and Child-Centered Play Therapy. These approaches really excite me because all of the research I’ve done supports these approaches. But also I love the community and the culture. I know this can sound cliche, but as a white provider, I need to be checking my own work, my own biases, my own privileges. At DAP this is not recommended, this is required. We can’t do this work unless we are checking in on how we show up.
DAP: Beautiful, Ciara. One final question. If you could be a Cheetoe, would you be crunchy or puffy? Spicy or cheesy?
Ciara: Definitely puffy, because puffy Cheetoes are still crunchy, and you don’t get it vice versa. And definitely spicy because they’re all going to be cheesy anyway. Why not incorporate all of it and have a little spice in my life.
