One of the motivators of conducting this research has been to gain some insight around the ‘fit; of transferability of counsellor training from one country to another, given that many counsellors who train abroad may be returning to their homeland, sometimes to be pioneers in counsellor training at their original culture, especially if counselling in the original culture is a new filed (like in my case, Greece). The question is that there must be a need for considering the fit between host and original cultural context. For example, … Read more »

I feel the need to write down a brief summary of all the interviews i have done so far to get a clearer view of the broader picture.Here we are: … Read more »

Last week William introduced me to a colleague who is visiting the UK for a short period, after having immigrated to Canada (host culture) and working there as a therapist. This was such a unique opportunity to interview him for the research. We arranged to have an interview today. I feel amazed by how powerful a research interview can be, even when it is with somebody that you meet for the first time. So much rich data came out of the encounter and i feel enriched by it (although I notice that i tend to feel quite exhausted and hungry, after conducting a research interview…i guess it’s cause it involves deep processing and level of engaging). I wish i could dedicate time to hear the recording today and make notes about it but i know that i need to stay focused on preparing the panel presentation so, i have to postpone that for later. … Read more »

I spent most of the morning/afternoon today listening on the recording of the research interview with M. and remembered what an engaging process that is. I know that doing verbatim transcription is far more tiring…but listening to the tape and also keeping notes with a reflexive attitude is also very demanding (and interesting process). I  think a good point to keep in mind is that a researcher may be ‘catching’ into awareness different nuances each time he/she listens to the recording – depending on ‘where’ one is at that particular moment. Also. i have a sense that location place a role for some reason, maybe more so in my case where I am researching ‘culture’. … Read more »

I did a research interview with participant M. today to pilot the interview schedule (from fresh) as i have prepared it for the review panel proposal. Thw whole process flew really well, i enjoyed it and felt that there is a lot of interesting data in there. Soon after the ineterview, I listened carefully to the tape and made notes about the process and the interaction and also recorded the main themes and ideas drawn from the interviewee’s responses, to capture the initial ‘feel’. I do not have the time to do the fully detailed verbatim transcript right now but i produced a 6-page ’summary’ document for this interview as ‘individual depiction’ in heuristic terms, whilst also recording some significant quotes using the participant’s actual words (tried to keep close to M’s own words when writing up my notes anyway). I emailed those ‘filednotes’ to my supervisor and his comments were very positive actually. I have to go back and do a bit more work on my proposal now, also need to finalise the other documents required for the panel and print them off for William to sign before submission to Debbie on Friday.

I sent my process notes about the intreview with M. to William, with the following note on my email:

“ i did an interviw with M. yesterday to pilot the interview schedule i recently prepated…it was really so interesting but also engaging…deep process, it exhausted me but also inspired me…..difficult to differentiate the different dynamics within (my relationship to the topic, my personhood,my counsellor in me, the researcher…and hearing another Greek talking about all this)… you re right: the professional impact also brought up the personal stuff,big way…and of course the two greeks doing the interview when in England brings up so much…..everything is data, how wonderful and owverwhelming at the same time…i feel on edge but also touched and moved,loads going on”
and he responded by saying:

“This is interesting data and PhDable. I thought about Pittu’s Esatern/western dimesnions and how you Greeks seemed to be at the eastern end of his table and then Marina uses a metaphor that Pittu used in his last meetign and interview with me – Chameleon.”

Good to have the blog space to record all this