Just a bit of context…this is something I wrote in my research diary following a CRG –Counselling Research Group – meeting we had at Manchester University. My supervisor, some other students and myself went to a conference in Moscow in April and we were reflecting on that experience during that meeting, mainly around cultural differences. At some point, I raised some issues that seemed not to be grasped from certain people in the group about culture and there was a ‘hot’ discussion around what it means to be British, what it means to try to develop counselling training in countries (like Russia, Greece etc) where counselling is not yet a well defined concept or a recognised profession etc……you will find a strong emotional response from my part which, I feel, models certain reactions that a client may have when in a counselling relationship with a counsellor from another culture and when he/she feels a voice is being denied or some cultural complexities are not being understood. … Read more »
On 12.10.2006, I wrote sth interesting about tacit knowledge and the language of the unconscious…still thinking about it:
“I feel that the ‘knowing’ I am experiencing in relation to my topic is unconscious. This raises a number of questions around how to bring it to consciousness. First of all, I am thinking that the language of the unconscious is our mother tongue…is that’s the case, no wonder I can’t find my voice about it in a second language (English). On the other hand, my academic thinking is in english now so wouldn’t feel capable of writing such a thing in my mother tongue either…how could I compromise that conflict in a useful way for this process? What would be the pathway, the door towards tapping into this experience in me? Cause if I do not do that within myself, how could I be the midwife for the participant’s delivery?”
Here I am back to the UK after my Christmas travels and notice the two languages co-existing in my head…I went for group supervision on Friday and my english was coming out with errors…not a big deal really…what is more revealing in terms of cultural adjustmement is the time it takes me to start dreaming in the language of the country I inhabit each time…
I know remember reading that essay by Stanley on ‘Different tongues’. With thanks and acknowledgements, I here present some extracts of this study aiming at exploring “how the personal experience of changing language and culture raises the awareness of cultural, social, and personal issues in counsellors. Are they able to offer something ‘in addition’ during their sessions and if so, what?” … Read more »
It’s been over a year now that I have been researching the topic of exploring the role of spirituality and culture for therapists-participants and one of the key findings has been that those two constructs tend to be viewed as separate, as if practitioners cannot talk about them together…This is something that didnt sit comfortable with me, as it doesn’t suit my own experience and the way I perceive the phenomenon so far.
Today, I read an interesting extract by Sai Baba (1990) Summer Showers in Brindavan, pgs. 65-67, Cited in Sai Baba, the Scientist (2002b), Chennai: Sai Shriham Printers by Dr. Malayappa Jeevanandam. Sai Baba uses a number of metaphors to present those two constructs as woven together is essence…here it is: … Read more »
This is my first message. Happy New Year!
