This approach leads to a focus on the diagnosis of an ailment, and a frame that "normal" students can cope with the education system, those who cannot, must have something wrong with them. They need to change, but the education system can remain the same. Literacy workers commented on how saying "you need to talk to a counsellor" can be silencing, giving the impression that the person who has begun to tell is not normal, and has special problems that need to be dealt with outside of the classroom. Recently, I was asked to review a pamphlet written for front-line workers in a range of services because the authors were wondering whether it might be useful in literacy. It did include much useful information but the focus was on identifying clients who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and convincing them that they need medical help. I was concerned that such a booklet would strengthen the medicalizing and individualizing approach to the aftermath of violence and deepen the divide with literacy, rather than strengthen the recognition of the complexity of women's lives

"Dealt with it"

We noticed that workers were surprised to find themselves talking about their own experiences of violence, and we got the sense this rarely happens in the literacy field. Several colleagues seemed to be talking with each other about their own experience with violence for the first time. We also felt we heard a discourse of "dealt with it," in relation to whatever experiences workers had been through themselves. Later, in a focus group, several workers agreed they did feel pressure to have "dealt with" their experiences. One worker said that when working with students triggered her own memories of abuse, she took a leave of absence and wondered whether she had disqualified herself as a literacy worker.