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Individual narratives of change in therapeutic enactment

University of British Columbia

This study investigated the subjectively constructed narratives of individual change for lead persons in a Therapeutic Enactment (Westwood, Keats & Wilensky, in press). Narrative investigation of Therapeutic Enactment to date has not been conducted and, as such, the study is important to the field of counselling psychology and the further development of Therapeutic Enactment. In terms of both theory and practice the study expands our understanding of the complexities of the change process in Therapeutic Enactment. It also provides the unique personal contexts related to change and it provides concrete examples of what actually changes in the lives of lead persons in Therapeutic Enactment. In this study, the co-researchers consisted of 4 female lead persons and 2 male lead persons, who had taken part in their own Therapeutic Enactment at a residential retreat on the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The co-researchers were interviewed in-depth using person-centred narrative interviewing techniques, combined with semi-structured interview questions. Five narratives were written in the first person focusing on the subjective experience of individual change in Therapeutic Enactment. Each narrative was returned to the respective co-researcher for editing and validation at which point co-researchers removed portions of the narratives they did not want included in the study and then added or amended content that they did want to be included in the study. The principal researcher made the requested changes and then returned final copies of the narratives to each of the co-researchers. The final narratives are presented herein. The co-constructed narratives indicate that lead persons in Therapeutic Enactment experienced change on six general levels including body sensations, emotions, behaviours, thoughts, relationships and spiritual connection. This study provides an in-depth examination of the subjective narratives of individual change in Therapeutic Enactment.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-11-17

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15067

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace