Current & recently completed postgraduate projects

‘It’s just one long day’ … Parenting Substance Using Children

 

This grounded theory research project investigated, from the parents’ point of view, the factors that influenced them to develop permissive or authoritarian parenting styles and what impact their styles had on their children’s engagement in substance use. It further explored the parents’ experience of changing their parenting style to be more authoritative and how their children responded in relation to their substance use. The research found that when parents change and become more authoritative in their method of parenting, their children are frequently influenced to take more responsibility for their actions and as a result address their substance using behaviours. The results also indicated that the formation of the permissive parenting style is influenced by a number of factors usually working in unison. Similarly, the project found that different parenting styles can co-exist in the same family and that parents have a dominant style of parenting but move between the styles as situations warrant. 

 

Building Research and Evaluation Capacity in a Community Health Centre

 

 

Children’s Wisdoms

 

This project aims to provide early intervention for at-risk children to prevent the later development of adolescent and adult mental health problems. Further, it aims to develop and implement a co-operative inquiry group research approach to explore the collection and sharing of children’s experiences of dealing with emotional and behavioural problems. The project engages counsellors and allied mental health workers in a community-based, collaborative approach to working with children, across mental health, education and welfare sectors. The project also aims to produce resources and collections of children’s narratives that can be shared with other children in a wide range of settings, and to understand the effects of using narrative therapy with children, both as a healing process and as a source of strength, courage and hope to others. 

 

Finding A Place: Lesbian Non-Birth Mothers’ Experiences

 

While lesbians have been parenting for a long time, it is only relatively recently that they have received public attention and that a language has emerged for lesbian motherhood. Lesbians continue to be marginalised in the absence of legal and social recognition of their families. This is particularly so for lesbian non-birth mothers as evidenced by the lack of widely accepted language to adequately define and describe their roles and relationships with their children. This grounded theory project explores the experience of lesbian non-birth mothers and in particular the language used to describe their role and relationship within their family. It further investigates how she and other family members describe and present their families in public contexts. 

 

When listening works: Experiences of listening in mediation

 

Listening is at the heart of mediation practice. The mediator listens to the disputants and hopefully disputants become increasingly able to listen to each other. Yet, listening is a neglected area in the literature of mediation and conflict resolution so this thesis seeks to fill this gap by exploring dimensions of mediator and inter-disputant listening.

 

The research project is an empirical investigation of mediator listening based on interviews with 11 participants. The participants are mediators who practiced in contexts including neighbourhood, family law and workplace disputes. Their approach to mediation was predominantly facilitative or problem-solving, with some of the mediators influenced by transformative and narrative theory and practice.

 

The interviews were assessed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (a recently developed idiographic method used to investigate participant experiences of a particular phenomenon), and the results are discussed under three major topic areas. One focus is mediator inner listening, suspension and stillness in which participants describe the significance of listening to themselves to identify reaction and responses (suspension) and to deepen their own listening capacity. A second is inter-disputant listening, a phenomenon that participants witnessed and described but were rarely able to attribute to their own interventions or the mediation process. Listening to emotion and the impact that fostering emotional expression may play in the unfolding of a conflict toward resolution constitutes the third major topic.

 

The findings from the data are discussed in the context of the literature, theory and practice of mediation. These findings demonstrate the importance of listening to the group of self-reflective mediators participating in the study and suggest that listening deserves greater acknowledgement in the theory, practice and training of mediators. A greater focus on inter-disputant listening may help to understand the interventions and processes that best foster greater listening. Further awareness of the role of emotional expression and the capacity to listen to emotions may assist mediators and disputants.

Exploring Ways of Supporting Children Whose Parents are in Conflict and Negotiating Parenting Agreements through Family Dispute Resolution.

 

Separated parents are now required by law to attempt negotiating parenting agreements through Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) before going to court. Family Relationship Centres are mandated to provide FDR services in a way that encourages parents to focus on the ‘best interests’ of their children. This project will engage Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners, family counsellors and community development workers employed at Sunshine Family Relationship Centre in a cooperative inquiry process to explore how best to support the children of separated parents using the service, and to develop and implement a range of service responses that are more responsive to children’s needs in a range of service provision contexts (namely - early intervention, community development, family counselling and family dispute resolution).

 

Because of the challenges for practitioners in working with separated conflicted parents, the project will also explore how the cooperative inquiry process itself may support staff to be influential in creating and maintaining a resilient work culture.

 

 

God, society and other fragile anchors – Rurability: A support program for rural families coping with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

 

This participatory action research project looks at a system of support for families of people with an ABI in rural and remote areas. It involves developing Multiple Family Groups (MFGs) in rural centres to (i) delineate unique issues pertinent to families dealing with ABI, (ii) formulate possible action plans within local communities, (iii) initiate activities to try and address local problems, and (iv) gauge the response of research participants and local communities. Study outcomes include the development of social and support networks in rural areas that have reduced the sense of isolation; better understanding of the long-term nature of brain injury and its effects on families; renewed appreciation for the advantages of, and unique fortitude engendered in, rural living; and increased community education through local media, to schools, and to community organisations under the auspices of Rurability.  This includes regular education to Senior Police at the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn.

 

Sibling Sexual Abuse: A collaborative, action research approach with therapists to develop best practice models with families, victims and perpetrators

 

This cooperative inquiry, action research project aims to explore with therapists the challenges and dilemmas for their practice in working with sibling sexual abuse (SSA) and how these challenges impact on their work. Further, it explores how therapists seek to address these challenges and what assists therapists to work effectively. Lastly, the project aims to engage therapists in developing a model of best/family sensitive practice in therapy for SSA and develop guidelines and/or a training framework and support package for therapists working with SSA.

 

Reflective collaboration in couples counselling

 

I began this project by asking myself how I decide during sessions whether work is useful for couples. After listening to 120 audio records I decided that interactions involving reflective collaboration seemed to provide the best guide to my hypothesising. It seemed likely that these interactions equally provided orientation to the couple. This became my research question: what is the influence of reflective collaboration which occurred during counselling on the couple’s ongoing relationship? 

 

A Process Evaluation of the Building Family Skills Together (BFST) Initiative: Implementing Behavioural Family Therapy in a Continuing Care Team

 

Family interventions are effective in reducing relapse for people suffering from schizophrenia and reducing distress for family members, yet they are rarely provided in routine care in public mental health services. BFST is an implementation and research project that aims to introduce an evidence-based family intervention, Behavioural Family Therapy, into routine clinical practice within an Area Mental Health Service. This cooperative inquiry, action research project also aims to better understand the particular value and limitations of embedding a specialist Family Practice Consultant into the mental health service as a key element in the implementation strategy. More information about BFST can be found on the Mental Health pages of this website.

 

Project Connect: Home-School Relationship Project

 

Research shows that effective home-school relationships and family support at home enhance students’ learning outcomes. This mixed method, social justice, modified grounded theory, and part action research, project aims to explore how home-school relationships and at-home support for learning in a multicultural secondary school setting have developed over time and how this knowledge could inform  this project, thus contributing to building stronger partnerships between parents and students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and teachers and other staff at the school. Secondly, it explores how appreciation of cultural diversity and different development stages in students helps to shape home-school relationships and at-home learning support. Thirdly, it looks at how CALD and developmentally appropriate systems-level interventions could strengthen home-school relationships and at-home learning support to enhance students’ learning outcomes. 

 

Two Men and a Baby

 

This co-operative inquiry investigates the experiences of gay men who have become independent parents through surrogacy. This peer group action research project seeks to understand how gay fathers can best be supported. Over eighteen months a co-operative inquiry group of gay fathers will meet and explore relevant issues. The project aims to explore what motivates gay men to choose parenting, and to understand the surrogacy process, and the social forces that hinder and support these families and the homophobic context they find themselves in. Further it looks at the changing needs and issues of motherless families, and the social barriers that make gay male parenting difficult. The research will seek to provide support mechanisms and provide support groups that encourage good outcomes for every family member. 

 

The Implementation of Single Session Work in Community Health

 

In 2004, the Department of Human Services sponsored training in Single Session Work for community health counsellors across Victoria. Traditionally, training to community health clinicians has been approved as a one-off enterprise without resources for further sector consultation. DHS approved funding for this research project in response to the positive reception from the sector to the SSW training and the unique support provided fro SSW implementation. Funding was provided to understand and document SSW implementation in the community health sector. The research looked at

Further information about this project, including research findings, can be found on the Community Services section of this website, or by clicking here.

 

Stories of Resilience: Men choosing non-violent lives after exposure to domestic violence as children

 

This narrative research project aims to investigate the experiences of men who are influenced by non-violent practices in their intimate relationships (as corroborated by their female partners or family members) and who have been exposed to domestic violence as boys. This study explores the active individual choice that boys and men make to be non-violent given their exposure to domestic violence in their family of origin. While critiques of the trans-generational transmission of violence are increasing, there is a noticeable lack of research into why men who experienced violent childhoods are not violent in their intimate relationships with women. 

 

Sibling Sexual Abuse: Understanding the family and all family members’ experiences in the aftermath of disclosure

 

The relational trauma of sibling sexual abuse (SSA) has historically been marginalised and minimised. Yet it has also been identified as the most frequent type of sexual abuse that occurs in families. This grounded theory project aims to understand the experiences of all family members when there has been a disclosure of SSA. In particular, it looks at the meaning for these family members now for their relationships, family connectedness, recovery, support, accountability, and justice. 

 

No Bull: Exploring counselling and community development strategies for supporting people in drought affected rural communities

 

Rural drought affected people are often seen as reluctant to seek counselling support despite experiencing major emotional stress, at times resulting in suicide. Traditional counselling approaches have struggled to engage this population and calls for the service system’s response to drought to be more coordinated have not been translated into action. This cooperative inquiry, participatory action research project aims to identify effective counselling and community development strategies for supporting people in drought affected rural communities. More information about this project can be found on the Community Services pages of this website.

 

One of a number of action research offshoots to this project has been ‘Farm Gate: researching the Campaspe model of rural engagement’ being conducted by Elena Tauridsky. In 2006, Campaspe Primary Care Partnership (PCP) members involved in drought related service provision agreed to apply a consistent and collaborative approach to support farming families within the Campaspe Shire Area. The outcome was the Farm Gate Pathway model, which incorporates the farm gate cold calling approach applied in the Rochester, Elmore and Campaspe areas. The Campaspe Farm Gate Pathway Model was piloted with 200 irrigators.  Preliminary evaluation revealed that 30 percent accepted practical assistance, and 68 percent engaged in counselling with local Community Health Services. Given the difficulties reported in engaging rural people affected by drought in counselling, these figures are very promising. This project aims to better understand this model.