In today's podcast I am interviewing the educational historian and author of the book, Recovering Boarding School Trauma Narratives, Christine Jack.

Christine Jack spent 35 years as an academic in the field of teacher education, including holding the position of Head of Primary Education at the University of Canberra. She is a respected and well published Australian educational historian and is currently an honorary researcher at Charles Sturt University.

We had a great conversation about her own journey at boarding school and we talked about different subjects about boarding school syndrome and what it is to be a boarding school survivor.

In her book, Christine interweaves her own story at school with that of the son of AA Milne, the author of Winnie The Pooh, Christopher Robin Milne who also attended boarding school.

I have really been enjoying reading her amazing book which you can find here:

Please note that if you went to boarding school that you might find this interview triggering.

Here are some of the questions that I asked her (the ones in speech marks were submitted by ex-boarders):

1. What lead you to write your book about your own boarding school journey and that of Christopher Robin Milne?
   
   
2. “Do you think boarding school has a place in the 21st Century?”
   
   
3. “If there was university research money available, what lines of inquiry might you consider most important regarding boarding school and its long term impact on individuals or society?”
   
   
4. “British boarding schools, Canadian and American Residential Schools for First Nations and Native American children, and boarding schools in countries including Australia, the USA, and South Africa, came to exist for different purposes (e.g. remediation, distance, social advantage, skills acquisition, religion). In your opinion what lessons about children's experience might be learned across these populations?”
   
   
5. “Boarding School Syndrome is becoming an increasingly well used frame of reference. How helpful is it in terms of describing, defining, helping, or diagnosing and treating an individual's response to boarding school?”
   
   
6. “Boarding school life of children is often equated with privilege in Britain - and beyond. How does that accord with your experience?”
   
   
7. “How do you see power and bullying as challenges in boarding schools? - do we think of children as 'essentially good' or 'little savages', and does this view shape how children are treated?”
   
   
8. “Might you frame some boarding school experiences as Children's Rights infringements?”
   
   
9. “Which type of therapy might be best suited to someone wanting to overcome boarding school trauma? Is it necessary for a therapist to understand fully BS syndrome in order to really understand those who are BS survivors? And could a specific therapy ever emerge to deal with BS trauma? Most therapists in my experience seem to have difficulty relating to our particular wounds.”
   
   
10. “How to reconnect with the development process of the child that was curtailed?”
    
    
11. “How to let go of regrets?”
    
    

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To find out more about Christine's work please visit: Charles Sturt University

Her books on Amazon please visit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Recovering-Boarding-School-Trauma-Narratives/dp/036781952X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=christine+jack&qid=1619689084&sr=8-1

Her books on Routledge: Recovering Boarding School Trauma Narratives

For the Boarding School Survivors Support: https://www.bss-support.org.uk/​#boardingschoolsyndrome #christinejack

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An Evolving Man (AEM) Podcast is for men who want to grow, evolve and want support in learning how to do this.

On a regular basis there will be an interview around men's topics ranging from self-development, relationships, spirituality, archetypes, trauma, boarding school and men's work featuring authors and leaders in this field.

The sense with these interviews is to support men during these times of change. What are the teachings, tools and practices that you can use to help you through these turbulent times?