My life and PhD researching autistic people, gender identity, mental health
This… Researchers cannot assign value to one meaning without acknowledging the role that they personally play within this construction (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). Qualitative research has usefully attempted to acknowledge this limitation through reflexivity (MacBeth, 2001; Willig, 2001). Reflexive research requires an awareness of the researcher’s contribution to the construction of meaning and the improbability of remaining neutral,…
This year I have participated in the Autism Dialogue programme developed by Jonny Drury, in Sheffield, based upon Bohm Dialogue principles that are widely used in business and academia. The inaugural conference took place on the 14th December 2018 and I was invited to speak about the impression that AD had on me. The process…
“It was this prognosis of doom, this life sentence, this death before death that I instinctively rejected when the words “You are wrong” formed silently within me. With the wisdom of hindsight I understand why this moment in the psychiatrist’s office was a major turning point in my recovery process. When I rejected the prognosis of doom…
The house we have lived in since we arrived in Derby in December 2012 has been sold and we are in the process of packing up to move on. We have been so lucky to secure a council property, just down the road from where we live at the moment. Although our current property and…
The idea of dialogue, in relation to my developing professional practice, and also within my research work, seems to be occurring more and more frequently. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a dialogue as either: A conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film. ‘the book consisted of a series…
I found out this afternoon that my ex-partner of three years, Ian, died unexpectedly in his home 2 days ago. I lived with Ian for three years in my early twenties and our dating caused a bit of a scandal as he was 23 years older than me – 45 when we got together….
Things have been a bit quiet on my blog for the last six months. A lot has happened, mainly positive, and with some challenges. The main change has been a house move. We still live in Derby but the house we were in had to be sold because of being owned by my partner and…
Tomorrow I facilitate a workshop in which women with perinatal mental distress will be asked to explore their health journeys visually. This caused me to remember a similar collage that I created at the request of a wonderfully supportive nurse to represent my own health and well-being needs and challenges. it is an honour…
Dementia is an area of mental health that I have not had so much awareness of, and so the chance to co-facilitate a group specifically designing for the memory problems associated with dementia was a really positive opportunity. The brief for the MinD project worked across several areas that I have professional interest and experience…
Today I attended the first meeting with the wider NHS England Autism team, which I would describe as small but perfectly formed. I had already spoken to Sarah Jackson on Twitter, and also met Aaron Oxford after speaking at Skipton House in London but this was my chance to meet the rest of their colleagues…