I have arranged to meet with Clare tomorrow. Here are the points I would like to look at with her: … Read more »

During the last PhD group supervision meeting (12 Jan 07), when I was trying to describe my researh topic and my confusions around it to a couple of new group members, Christa came up with an image that she described so vividly, as she usually does when expressing herself. I asked her to send it to me in writing as she is so demonstrative with images and i received an email from her today, titled “fairytale basket” where she describes that image of me going for a research interview with participants holding this colourful basket with an egg in it (representing the ‘spiritual’ thread of the toipc explored). Here is how Christa describes it: … Read more »

I was asked to teach a session on TRANSPERSONAL APPROACHES TO COUNSELLING for the MA students on Tuesday, 6th February…how great, I love this topic!. I will present a powerpoint presentation with my beloved Jung, Wilber, Assagioli etc. Am also looking forward to the contributions from the group and their feedback.

As I was doing some reading around transpersonal theories earlier today, I saw that cross-cultural psychology has been, from its origins, multicultural and as Davis, J. (2003, An overview of transpersonal psychology. Humanistic Psychologist, 31 (2-3), 6-21. [Special edition on Transpersonal Psychology. Guest editors: Harris Friedman and Douglas Macdonald. ) highlights:

“transpersonal psychology requires us to challenge our culturally-defined views of mental health and psychotherapy and to draw cross-cultural insights into its practices and applications”. … Read more »

The construct of IDENTITY inevitably plays a prominent role when we talk about cross-cultural work. I know (tacit knowledge) from my personal experience of living between (or within) two cultures (referring to ‘countries’) that my identity (not only cultural) has been affected in a number of ways, something difficult to put into words. As a Greek, growing up at the far East corner of Europe – with a Cypriot father – I ‘carry’ features of both East and West…and yet I was trained as a therapist in a very western (UK) environment and have been living in it for a few years now. Although, my country is a member of EU, politically governed by ‘democracy’ etc, we are yet a nation that has been historically repeatedly invaded until recent years…and dominated by nations with whom we presently seem to have ‘equal’ rights, according to EU standards…the boundaries of dynamics of power become kind of blurred at this point. When thinking about all this, C. Lago (2006, Identity Development and its role in Therapy) sent me this excellent paper where he critically reflects on identity development models and challenges therapists in considering the following: … Read more »

Reflecting on my own cultural background and the observations I made around relationship dynamics in the different cultural environments I have been exposed to, I became very aware of the role of the use of ‘power’, especially when acknowledging the existence of ‘dominant’ and ‘dominated’ cultures, and how such tendencies inevitably come into play in the counselling room. And, although those involved in delivering psychological/support services are in a ‘caring’ role, I think it is of paramount importance to remember Contenuto’s saying, not to encourage fear towards one’s role but to cultivate the necessary humility within those ‘helping’ roles. … Read more »