During my last tutorial with my research supervisor, i was given a rough estimate of the different sections that form a qualitative Phd Thesis, this is something useful to keep in mind and i realise that although am still at the data collection stage, it is good to start writing draft chapters instead of leaving the whole thing to the end, which might end up quite overwhelming amongst anticipating that life still happens and there are unpreditable factors that might take up time. So, here are the average estimates that can lead to a 55-88.000 words thesis: … Read more »

After a wave of procrastination with this, i have spent the whole day so far trying to  put my head down in writing up a book chapter about Counselling, Spirituality and Culture (based on my MSc research) that will be included in William’s forthcoming book titled: “Counselling from the Edge: Innovations in Practice”. This is so exciting but yet feels so hard to get into the writing mode properly, sth that scares me in terms of how am i going to write a whole PhD. I can see that a routine is required but also the right mental, physical and most of all spiritual internal state and space. When i mentioned to W. about my resistance in the process, he commented by saying that am probably at a liminal inner space, provoked by the move between cultures and the situations in my life and inner world that is a great place to be for data collection but not an easy place to sit and write from. I guess, the only think i can do is continue trusting the process, be kind with myself and all am ‘cooking’ inside and try to have as much discipline as possible to remain productive. Today is was a good start…i cant wait to have the chapter completed, at least

During the past week or so i have been revisiting the literature to discover quotes etc for the two powerpoint presentations I am preparing for this coming week: one for the review panel and one for the research conference. The two presentations are on the same topic, my research, buthave different audience, different purpose and different style. I notice that i find it far more difficult to prepare the slides for the review panel: this is cause the style is to be less personal, more based on the ‘to do’ and the facts of the research and it is to be presented to non-counsellors who will maybe ‘critisize’ (i hope in a constructive atmosphere) my work and kind of decide on whethere i can proceed. On the other hand, the presentation for the conference has the more ‘personal’ flavour of the research, i feel the freedom to tell my story to the audience of peers and feel that I am allowed to ‘move’ and ‘touch’them if i wish to, without feeling threatened, i can be more myself … Read more »

Am submitting review panel documents tomorrow and it feels like things have somehow ‘come together’…i was feeling kind of stuck lately but i had valuable disussions  and feedback with a number of people that i wish to thank: William, Clare, Steph, Jim, Ann…am not sure how exactly this happened  (maybe through immersion) but as S. pointed out to me:” It might be interesting to include in your thesis your process of fast tracking from stuck to unstuck in the space of 7 days”. In the paper by Lennie and West (under review) titled Dilemmas in Counselling Psychology Research, I read relevant points: … Read more »

….after a couple of days of feeling ‘numb’ around my process, i had an urge today to start writing and made a start with writing my bit of my ’story’ that is rleated to the topic of “managing transitions and integartion of original and host culture”…for the book chapter am writing with C.L. I haven’t come too far with it, as it requires me finding ways to express processes that touch me deeply but am glad that I seem to be finding a voice for this kind of experience and even finding relavant literature for it. It feels painful to be writing about a personal experience that hasn’t settled well inside but there is a positive side in me that says that something good and helpful will come out of this…i just need to be courageous. I am chosing not to put my writing here in public yet as it is a document that will be submitted for publication to ‘Sage’ later in the year…but this is a kind of ‘narrative inquiry’ i just started doing, a way of writing which incorporates my own ’story’ and the debates around the topic…let’s see what comes out of it