Conference Agenda

This presentation offers a critical exploration of the importance of encountering therapeutic and reparative relationships when working through psychological trauma. As professionals we share many years of experience working with individuals who present with complex trauma. This informs our understanding and application of theory, research, and counselling practice. In this work we share a particular focus on understanding the meaning that individuals give to their experiences, and on working with trauma through relational means. We draw from two key research studies conducted with 15 service users from a United Kingdom (UK) mental health rehabilitation and recovery service and 12 asylum-seekers and refugees based in the UK. Our approach is informed by relational-centred, existential-phenomenological theoretical perspectives which assert that all humans have built-in propensity to grow to their full potential when specific conditions are met. However, personal problems and trauma may arise in and through relationality thereby interrupting connection with self and others. Relationships and experiences which offer the right conditions for transformation enable growth and change in one’s felt sense of self and being in the world. In our presentation we will present our definition of Relational Trauma and consider how issues can arise in and through relationality.

This study employed Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore what discourses about mental health recovery were constructed by community members who were directly and indirectly impacted by the fire at Grenfell tower in 2017. Despite prior repeated concerns raised by residents about building safety, the fire claimed the lives of 72 people. They had lived in the richest borough of London but were mainly from minoritized groups. Transcribed film and speeches streamed on social media on the fourth and fifth anniversaries of the Grenfell tower fire were analysed. It revealed that community members adopted three main discourses around their recovery: a relational discourse, action discourse and community discourse. These findings suggested social connectedness, being active participants in change-making, and community unity enabled people to adopt positions helpful for recovery. The primary researcher will reflect on the context of ongoing social injustice for this community and her own personal learning from working in the area. If professionals working in mental health settings desire to give voice to the people impacted by the consequences of disaster, it is imperative to attend to language and issues connected with power as well as the implications of social and political injustice for individuals and communities.

For rural and remote Australians, COVID-19 followed on the heels of drought, flood, and wildfire. The pandemic exacerbated existent isolation and stress as rural and remote communities reeled from one climate disaster to another. A longitudinal, qualitative group study conducted during the pandemic bridged geographical isolation and social isolation caused by government-mandated lockdowns, closed borders, and stay-home orders for the unvaccinated.

This salutogenic study was positioned at the forefront of online group research during a period of extreme personal, community, social, economic, and political challenge. As well as investigating how writing contributed to and/or achieved health and wellbeing, the study contributed to knowledge regarding online wellbeing interventions in pandemic conditions.

Sixteen participants took part in the study. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to evaluate semi-structured interviews undertaken at four timepoints during the program.

Key findings included the importance of languaging the feeling body to wellbeing outcomes, and that wellbeing outcomes were commensurate with developing trust – for self, others, and the world.

This presentation pivots around the elements and assemblage of this innovative qualitative study design.

“This (study) was the one thing going for myself that was outside of talking about the pandemic and (my partner’s) PTSD.” (Participant)

World War Two (WWII) brought upheaval for children on a global scale, with fathers conscripted, mothers supporting the war effort and millions of children evacuated away from harm. People turning 80 in the 2010’s were the first generation to become octogenarians having experienced WWII as children.

Interviews and the novel use of written accounts were adopted as a method of data collection, to hear stories from this “silent generation” of people whose voices were again stifled by a global pandemic, the challenges of engagement with technology and the requirements for many to shield away from potential harm. A set of wonderful data reveals how children experienced the last period of global conflict for over 80 years.

Their stories tell of gas masks and air raid shelters, of missing fathers and hard-working mothers of course, but initial analysis using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is revealing a much deeper meaning for these wartime experiences. A key theme is “remembering”, and the way in which older people are engaging with their memories of a wartime childhood may shed light on how those early experiences are shaping their relationships, expectations, hopes and fears as they move forward in to older, older age.