Refugees, asylum seekers, and practitioners’ perspectives of embodied trauma: A comprehensive scoping review.

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This study provides an innovative, compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research, using object elicitation with 13 participants from vulnerable groups. It examines the positive impact it has on building the research alliance, enhanced depth of sharing within qualitative research interviews and emic ways of knowing through the engagement with a culturally relevant, tangible, internalised or transitional object brought by vulnerable participants from diverse cultural contexts of origin. Results showcase how a creative and compassionate research method can promote a culturally informed research alliance with vulnerable participants, helping to build trust, rapport and relational depth; encourage elicitation of experiences; and empower emic and subjugated voices. The implications of this study make the case for the inclusion of object elicitation as a creative and compassionate method in qualitative research with traumatised and vulnerable individuals, which should be used as part of a culturally informed approach to psychotherapy research.

“…participants may have witnessed or experienced torture, sexual violence, war and many other atrocities (O'Brien & Charura, 2022).…”

Section: Implications For Practice and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Practice and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Object elicitation: A compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research

O'Brien,

Charura

2023

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A duoethnographic exploration of relational psychotraumatology: Research, training and practice considerations

Charura,

Smith

2024

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IntroductionUsing a duoethnological approach, supported by relational trauma theories, this paper synthesises idiosyncratic formulations and perspectives of working with relational trauma.AimInitially, focus is centred on reflecting on the authors' research with different and diverse groups. These include in‐reach rehabilitation and recovery services for people with profound and enduring mental health needs, as well as experiences of trauma, loss, grief and post‐traumatic growth of sanctuary seekers.MethodDuoethnography, which is a collaborative research methodology that promotes introspection and critical reflexivity in researchers, was followed for over a year, and this provided rich data, which were analysed.ResultsDuoethnological dialogue offered rich data, which was conceptualised into four themes, which are presented and elaborated on: (i) the importance of the therapists acknowledging and witnessing meaning‐making with those who present with relational trauma and engaging with the evolving process of remembering, repeating and working through their trauma; (ii) the importance of therapists clarifying the aim or function of therapy from their modality; (iii) the importance of the idiosyncratic experiencing and processing of relational trauma; and (iv) the importance of the dynamic process and diversity of possible stages in working through relational trauma.DiscussionThese themes support an argument for a praxis of relational trauma and exploration of different approaches that may be helpful in therapeutic practice, training and psychotraumatology research.ConclusionsThe paper concludes with reflections on how a human rights trauma‐informed approach entails facilitating hope in trauma work and offers recommendations for psychotraumatology therapeutic practice and trauma‐informed training.

The importance of diversity and inclusion within the research supervision relationship: The views of research students and supervisors

Bager‐Charleson,

McBeath,

Charura

et al. 2024

IntroductionResearch supervisors are uniquely positioned to recognise student abilities and needs. This mixed methods study explores how research supervision can support counselling, psychotherapy and counselling psychology doctoral students in their development of new knowledge, with diversity‐related opportunities and challenges in mind.MethodsGuided by ‘dialectical pragmatism’, we used a semi‐qualitative online survey, Reflective Online Practitioner Survey (ROPS; McBeath, 2020), with closed and open questions disseminated across learning institutes in the UK, Europe and North America.ResultsThe survey received 105 responses, with 45 coming from research supervisors and 60 from research students. Only a minority considered their own research supervision team to be diverse, and two‐thirds of respondents did not see matters relating to diversity and inclusion receiving sufficient emphasis in published research.ConclusionsBoth our quantitative and qualitative data addressed unequal representations in terms of gender and sexuality, ethnicity and heritage, (dis‐)ability and social class—several referring to a ‘history of domination by white, cis, non‐disabled male perspectives’. Many described ‘diversity being left out of research’ with consequences on the capacity to meet clients' need in clinical practice. As one said: ‘we need to decolonise the training material by critically analysing and situating knowledge and calling out missing voices’. Another stated: ‘If the research we conduct and draw on as practitioners cannot actively reckon with oppression within…we risk furthering the violence that marginalised clients, practitioners, and researchers face’. Support and training of supervisors to address diversity and power in research from the start of supervision were argued as essential, with both the supervisory relationship and innovative epistemological angles to knowledge and ‘reality’ in the field of mental health in mind.