This publication feels a long time in the making, and perhaps overdue as a themed issue, but with... more This publication feels a long time in the making, and perhaps overdue as a themed issue, but with the subject being decolonising systemic practice-a core value of the journal, it is perhaps more of a punctuation mark in an ongoing dialogue. It is an important punctuation at a time when decolonisation is so vital and so often foregrounded-at least at the level of theory if not at the level of practice or action. Some of the papers in this collection speak to that tension-of the space between theory and action. There are many challenges present and also opportunities to be challenging. These papers focus on the latter and they each, in differing ways, highlight innovative research and practice that are grounded in decolonial theory and action.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
The theme for this important special edition has been in our thoughts for some time. We 'knew' (f... more The theme for this important special edition has been in our thoughts for some time. We 'knew' (from previous contributions to the journal and our own experiences) that there were stories that needed to be told, written, shared and witnessed in relation to therapists' health and how this intersects with practice-the tensions, dilemmas and ethical considerations that require careful and thorough negotiation. All this at times when we are least likely to be feeling at our most robust and energised. Whilst we had a strong "hunch" that there were stories to be heard that would speak to this, we were perhaps surprised how many important, perhaps urgent, stories needed to be told. These are daring, first-person stories from professional practitioners, written from within and about our most "human" moments, when we traverse unknown and scary personal paths with health conditions in tow. These stories map, in rich detail, important ethical choices and challenges about how we view ourselves and make sense of our professional identities, our roles as therapists and our relationships with illness, pain and loss that, at times, cannot be ignored. Reading the contributions to the special issue, we have felt privileged that the authors have shared, with generosity and sensitivity, their personal stories to Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice, and we thank the contributors for their courage, care and concern.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
This contribution is, in essence, a collection of poems that the two authors wrote over a period ... more This contribution is, in essence, a collection of poems that the two authors wrote over a period of four weeks. The temporal element is interesting. It speaks to a commitment to “go on” (Wittgenstein, 1953) at a time of illness and recovery. Duoethnography, as collaborative activity, invites new meaning by layering what could be seen as separate narratives and creating a dialogue between the evolving stories. This enables new meaning to evolve and intertwine. Undertaking an inquiry through poetry was an important decision. The intention being to provoke and promote creativity, to generate feelings of wellbeing at a time of depleted energy. Writing to and with each other was both an act of generosity and an act of self-preservation. Mutual support, maybe one way to frame it, but it was also outward looking, connecting with how we practice as therapists, how we are in the world, the causes we care about, all part of the awkward dance of living with health challenges. The poems provide...
... I still remember the load of nearly rotten potatoes that we gratefully accepted at the ... Th... more ... I still remember the load of nearly rotten potatoes that we gratefully accepted at the ... There issomething in the nature of an institution that doesn't always foster com-passion ... Address for correspondence: Mark Winne, Mark Winne Associates, 41 Arroyo Hondo Trail, Santa, Fe, NM ...
This article tells a tale in three parts—from the inspirational starting point of the “Storytelli... more This article tells a tale in three parts—from the inspirational starting point of the “Storytelling in Health” conference (Swansea 2017; explored in part one) to the development of a fixed-term digital storytelling group program (explored in part two) to what is now an open-ended creative therapy group for women that the two authors are part of (part three.) We include a prologue (the story behind the story), an epilogue (review of the story), and a metalogue (authors’ reflections on the story). The article tracks the development of these three phases and offers and invites reflection points, references relevant theory, and provides feedback from the groups, which opens up the possibility for future research in this innovative area of practice
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2015
This paper will present some of the relational contexts and considerations of a female therapist’... more This paper will present some of the relational contexts and considerations of a female therapist’s role within an island community group for women who have shared experiences of abuse and injustice; her relationship to the group, to her systemic and narrative practices; and to the research that has ensued. Exploring the changing relational contexts as the group moves from a facilitator led to a peer support group; and the associated language shifts from a binary discourse of ‘other than’ to a collective definition of ‘sisterhood’ is part of the story, which also includes the important themes of community engagement, social action and the complexities of insider/practice-based research.
This paper offer a dsicussion of a small scale audit of satisfaction with a Parent Therapist serv... more This paper offer a dsicussion of a small scale audit of satisfaction with a Parent Therapist services "family therapy" provision as opne intervention in a range of options open to the clientele of the service.The audit took place in May 2011 and involved a telephone survey of clients who used the services of a therapist over the previous year june 2010-M ay 2011.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-term outcomes for 15 young people on a... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-term outcomes for 15 young people on a range of indicators including school success, involvement with other agencies and the perceived effectiveness by the family. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured telephone interviews were used to gather a range of both quantitative and qualitative data. Interviews were with a parent of the referred child (n=15). Findings – In all, 87 per cent of care-givers interviewed rated the service they had received as helpful 85 per cent reported these changes to be maintained at the three year follow-up. Rate of school exclusion was only 7 per cent and 0 per cent of families went on to have involvement with statutory social services or the youth justice system. Research limitations/implications – This is a small-scale study offering a small sample (n=15) of families previously referred to this Family Intervention Team, at a three-year post-intervention period. More routine longitudinal i...
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice, 2019
In this paper we reframe systemic social construction as transmaterial worlding to include human ... more In this paper we reframe systemic social construction as transmaterial worlding to include human and non-human participants. We discuss what it means to be human in the Anthropocene era with reference to posthuman new materialist theory. We introduce systemic living as ontoepistemological becoming, movement and meaning-making practices in and between human and non-human parts of our worlds. The paper discusses power relations and ways of bringing forth lost-destroyed indigenous ways of knowing which make time and space for new understandings and experimental responses to what we are making together at a local and global level. We discuss how transmaterial worlding requires a new understanding by humans to see their place in this planet as co-inhabitation. We offer examples of transmaterial worlding from across different contexts and suggest some systemic questions for how we can live ethically in a transmaterial world that honours societal, cultural, professional and other kinds of situated knowledge and know-how.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
This is a trilogy of papers about land and people and the ecology they create together. Leah live... more This is a trilogy of papers about land and people and the ecology they create together. Leah lives on the coast in South Wales. Lisen lives on the island of Gotland in Sweden. Gail lives in Yorkshire in the north of England. What connects us and our writings is the land, its history, its place in industry and what we do and don’t see. The cuts in the land reflect the cuts in our minds, unnegotiated edits in our stories, and disconnects in political discourses. This trilogy of papers documents some of these cuts and joins. We speak about the land we walk on and the stories told about it. We point to scars in the landscape and ask how they connect with those in the lungs and on the wrist. The landscape of the present holds clues about its past and its future. And the timescapes in the writings evoke a necessity to connect time and place, human and non-human colonising and liberatory methods and live with a maddening, flickering lenticularity (Pillow, 2019).
Community practitioner : the journal of the Community Practitioners' & Health Visitors' Association, 2014
This paper outlines a review of the processes involved in setting up a pilot community group for ... more This paper outlines a review of the processes involved in setting up a pilot community group for mothers and babies around the theme of postnatal wellbeing. The group was designed and run by the Caerphilly Family Intervention Team (an Action For Children Project in South Wales) to meet what was considered to be an unmet need in provision in this area. The design and facilitation of the programme was framed relationally, with a focus on providing a context in which women could share their experiences and allow them to think about the transition to motherhood and their relationship with their baby. The report describes the background, context and intended purpose of the pilot, and then continues to give detail of the content, evaluation process and results. This article also offers a review of what works in this specific area of practice and suggests that community groups with a focus on transitions to motherhood, rather than mental ill health, can have a significant impact on wellbeing.
This publication feels a long time in the making, and perhaps overdue as a themed issue, but with... more This publication feels a long time in the making, and perhaps overdue as a themed issue, but with the subject being decolonising systemic practice-a core value of the journal, it is perhaps more of a punctuation mark in an ongoing dialogue. It is an important punctuation at a time when decolonisation is so vital and so often foregrounded-at least at the level of theory if not at the level of practice or action. Some of the papers in this collection speak to that tension-of the space between theory and action. There are many challenges present and also opportunities to be challenging. These papers focus on the latter and they each, in differing ways, highlight innovative research and practice that are grounded in decolonial theory and action.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
The theme for this important special edition has been in our thoughts for some time. We 'knew' (f... more The theme for this important special edition has been in our thoughts for some time. We 'knew' (from previous contributions to the journal and our own experiences) that there were stories that needed to be told, written, shared and witnessed in relation to therapists' health and how this intersects with practice-the tensions, dilemmas and ethical considerations that require careful and thorough negotiation. All this at times when we are least likely to be feeling at our most robust and energised. Whilst we had a strong "hunch" that there were stories to be heard that would speak to this, we were perhaps surprised how many important, perhaps urgent, stories needed to be told. These are daring, first-person stories from professional practitioners, written from within and about our most "human" moments, when we traverse unknown and scary personal paths with health conditions in tow. These stories map, in rich detail, important ethical choices and challenges about how we view ourselves and make sense of our professional identities, our roles as therapists and our relationships with illness, pain and loss that, at times, cannot be ignored. Reading the contributions to the special issue, we have felt privileged that the authors have shared, with generosity and sensitivity, their personal stories to Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice, and we thank the contributors for their courage, care and concern.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
This contribution is, in essence, a collection of poems that the two authors wrote over a period ... more This contribution is, in essence, a collection of poems that the two authors wrote over a period of four weeks. The temporal element is interesting. It speaks to a commitment to “go on” (Wittgenstein, 1953) at a time of illness and recovery. Duoethnography, as collaborative activity, invites new meaning by layering what could be seen as separate narratives and creating a dialogue between the evolving stories. This enables new meaning to evolve and intertwine. Undertaking an inquiry through poetry was an important decision. The intention being to provoke and promote creativity, to generate feelings of wellbeing at a time of depleted energy. Writing to and with each other was both an act of generosity and an act of self-preservation. Mutual support, maybe one way to frame it, but it was also outward looking, connecting with how we practice as therapists, how we are in the world, the causes we care about, all part of the awkward dance of living with health challenges. The poems provide...
... I still remember the load of nearly rotten potatoes that we gratefully accepted at the ... Th... more ... I still remember the load of nearly rotten potatoes that we gratefully accepted at the ... There issomething in the nature of an institution that doesn't always foster com-passion ... Address for correspondence: Mark Winne, Mark Winne Associates, 41 Arroyo Hondo Trail, Santa, Fe, NM ...
This article tells a tale in three parts—from the inspirational starting point of the “Storytelli... more This article tells a tale in three parts—from the inspirational starting point of the “Storytelling in Health” conference (Swansea 2017; explored in part one) to the development of a fixed-term digital storytelling group program (explored in part two) to what is now an open-ended creative therapy group for women that the two authors are part of (part three.) We include a prologue (the story behind the story), an epilogue (review of the story), and a metalogue (authors’ reflections on the story). The article tracks the development of these three phases and offers and invites reflection points, references relevant theory, and provides feedback from the groups, which opens up the possibility for future research in this innovative area of practice
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2015
This paper will present some of the relational contexts and considerations of a female therapist’... more This paper will present some of the relational contexts and considerations of a female therapist’s role within an island community group for women who have shared experiences of abuse and injustice; her relationship to the group, to her systemic and narrative practices; and to the research that has ensued. Exploring the changing relational contexts as the group moves from a facilitator led to a peer support group; and the associated language shifts from a binary discourse of ‘other than’ to a collective definition of ‘sisterhood’ is part of the story, which also includes the important themes of community engagement, social action and the complexities of insider/practice-based research.
This paper offer a dsicussion of a small scale audit of satisfaction with a Parent Therapist serv... more This paper offer a dsicussion of a small scale audit of satisfaction with a Parent Therapist services "family therapy" provision as opne intervention in a range of options open to the clientele of the service.The audit took place in May 2011 and involved a telephone survey of clients who used the services of a therapist over the previous year june 2010-M ay 2011.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-term outcomes for 15 young people on a... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-term outcomes for 15 young people on a range of indicators including school success, involvement with other agencies and the perceived effectiveness by the family. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured telephone interviews were used to gather a range of both quantitative and qualitative data. Interviews were with a parent of the referred child (n=15). Findings – In all, 87 per cent of care-givers interviewed rated the service they had received as helpful 85 per cent reported these changes to be maintained at the three year follow-up. Rate of school exclusion was only 7 per cent and 0 per cent of families went on to have involvement with statutory social services or the youth justice system. Research limitations/implications – This is a small-scale study offering a small sample (n=15) of families previously referred to this Family Intervention Team, at a three-year post-intervention period. More routine longitudinal i...
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice, 2019
In this paper we reframe systemic social construction as transmaterial worlding to include human ... more In this paper we reframe systemic social construction as transmaterial worlding to include human and non-human participants. We discuss what it means to be human in the Anthropocene era with reference to posthuman new materialist theory. We introduce systemic living as ontoepistemological becoming, movement and meaning-making practices in and between human and non-human parts of our worlds. The paper discusses power relations and ways of bringing forth lost-destroyed indigenous ways of knowing which make time and space for new understandings and experimental responses to what we are making together at a local and global level. We discuss how transmaterial worlding requires a new understanding by humans to see their place in this planet as co-inhabitation. We offer examples of transmaterial worlding from across different contexts and suggest some systemic questions for how we can live ethically in a transmaterial world that honours societal, cultural, professional and other kinds of situated knowledge and know-how.
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
This is a trilogy of papers about land and people and the ecology they create together. Leah live... more This is a trilogy of papers about land and people and the ecology they create together. Leah lives on the coast in South Wales. Lisen lives on the island of Gotland in Sweden. Gail lives in Yorkshire in the north of England. What connects us and our writings is the land, its history, its place in industry and what we do and don’t see. The cuts in the land reflect the cuts in our minds, unnegotiated edits in our stories, and disconnects in political discourses. This trilogy of papers documents some of these cuts and joins. We speak about the land we walk on and the stories told about it. We point to scars in the landscape and ask how they connect with those in the lungs and on the wrist. The landscape of the present holds clues about its past and its future. And the timescapes in the writings evoke a necessity to connect time and place, human and non-human colonising and liberatory methods and live with a maddening, flickering lenticularity (Pillow, 2019).
Community practitioner : the journal of the Community Practitioners' & Health Visitors' Association, 2014
This paper outlines a review of the processes involved in setting up a pilot community group for ... more This paper outlines a review of the processes involved in setting up a pilot community group for mothers and babies around the theme of postnatal wellbeing. The group was designed and run by the Caerphilly Family Intervention Team (an Action For Children Project in South Wales) to meet what was considered to be an unmet need in provision in this area. The design and facilitation of the programme was framed relationally, with a focus on providing a context in which women could share their experiences and allow them to think about the transition to motherhood and their relationship with their baby. The report describes the background, context and intended purpose of the pilot, and then continues to give detail of the content, evaluation process and results. This article also offers a review of what works in this specific area of practice and suggests that community groups with a focus on transitions to motherhood, rather than mental ill health, can have a significant impact on wellbeing.
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Papers by Leah Salter