Chapter 8: Final Reflections
Final reflection
The final reflection is adapted from Alice Morgan’s article Beginning to Use a Narrative Approach in therapy.
This reflection is a practice reflection so it will be most valuable if you’ve had a chance to put some of the ideas from this course into practice if you hadn’t already:
- Think about just one thing that has particularly resonated for you about queering narrative practices that you have been trying to apply more in your work.
- What would you call the principle or idea? Give it a name. Say something about it – describe what it is about, your understandings of it in your own words.
- Give some more details about it, e.g.: When did you first notice this idea or principle in the work? What told you that it was important to you?
- What are you currently doing that you would say is a reflection of this particular idea, practice or principle? Say a little bit about the times you thought you had managed to apply the idea or principle to your own practice.
- When you did it, what did you notice? How did it affect, for example:
- The conversation you were engaging in at the time?
- Your thoughts about yourself?
- The other people who were with you?
- Your hopes or plans?
- Your feelings?
- What was this like for you? Did you like it or not?
- Did it suit you or not? Or something in between?
- Why is it that you give this evaluation? What did it seem to fit with?
Please now share your thoughts and responses with others below.
Thanks for joining us!
shahdalshammari
August 29, 2022Avoiding assumptions and being very self-relfective.
abbytimmy13@gmail.com
June 30, 2022No making assumptions, always asking the question and allowing people to disclose their gender or sexuality. Having an open mind and acknowledging when I don’t know and need more knowledge. Also being mindful at all times of the privilege that I have as a cisgender white woman in a heterosexual marriage
abbytimmy13@gmail.com
June 30, 2022No making assumptions, always asking the question and allowing people to disclose their gender or sexuality. Having an open mind and acknowledging when I don’t know and need more knowledge
sylphillipsayre@yahoo.com.au
February 28, 2022Think about just one thing that has particularly resonated for you about queering narrative practices that you have been trying to apply more in your work.
Inclusively expansive language, opening dialogue of identities
What would you call the principle or idea? Give it a name. Say something about it – describe what it is about, your understandings of it in your own words. Give some more details about it, e.g.: When did you first notice this idea or principle in the work? What told you that it was important to you?
Opening dialogue of identities – It’s pretty much a way of gaining consent to ask questions and start the conversation in getting to know the client and/or client’s parents/ carers / family / significant other(s). Sharing a little about my identities including my pro nouns and some of my story that help make me up to be who I am in the here and now, and ask the client(s) to tell me about their identities including pro-nouns and story about who they are and their connections that help make them up to be who they are in the here and now. Sense of connection for alot of people is important and just as important is the freedom to feel safe and be safe. A large part of this is for people to feel they can openly and safely express themselves and identify in ways they can be visible, safely exist, heard, validated, supported and feel comfortable to access services that get where a person is coming from and or are open to understanding / learning and being able to put this respectfully into practise.
What are you currently doing that you would say is a reflection of this particular idea, practice or principle? Say a little bit about the times you thought you had managed to apply the idea or principle to your own practice.
When you did it, what did you notice? How did it affect, for example: The conversation you were engaging in at the time? Your thoughts about yourself? The other people who were with you? Your hopes or plans? Your feelings?
As mentioned earlier I’ve been working with my current HR staff to change language that safely reflects diverseness of identities for all peoples (guests, visitors, contractors, volunteers, staff and communities). I emailed HR to start the conversation, received correspondence and replied to this to arrange meeting, had conversations with safe peers who has been in their position for over 5yrs to inform them of what I’m doing and ask for their consent to be be apart of this change, I attended meeting, collaborated idea’s with HR with outcome of me seeking out feedback amongst my community peers nationally to gain consent about having conversations and asking questions to use people’s feedback to help guide the conversation of change so it is reflective in workplace policies / procedures and hopefully ingrained in staff to best reflect the attitudes, behaviour that support all peoples to be who they are, while being mindful identities can change from one day to the next and can change depending on what circle of people a person is around at any given time so their/ he /her pro nouns might also change during the time of interaction with individual circles, peers, networks etc.
What was this like for you? Did you like it or not? Did it suit you or not? Or something in between?
It was good, as everyone deserves the right to feel and be safe, and hopefully by doing this all peoples in need of this service can feel safe to access these services without fear, shame, judgement. I feel like sometimes where-ever I go I seem to be planting seeds of / for change which can be challenging, feeling vulnerable at times and almost ready for negative feedback / backlash which is sad, disheartening and comes from experience in working in a variety of workplaces predominantly in health and community services sectors. Advocating and being in conversations with peer in cultural capacity and in inclusively safe diverse capacities of sexualities and genders. I do this not just for me , but for peoples before me, people here and now and for people in the future. When I reflect on this, I know this is what I can do, and engage in short informal yarns with peers to support their growth and development in the ways we work with people/ communities. and when ever I have the opportunity to work in a therapeutic manner with people I try to practise in the most inclusively diverse , safe and respectful ways. That even when I’m doing this, there are still times that make me stop, listen, learn, understand and grow from. Much like what has been mentioned through-out this course we are always learning from all peoples and animals (life). The more we choose to embrace the learnings the more we grow and might be better in what we do.
Why is it that you give this evaluation? What did it seem to fit with?
In the past working with young people, being openly inclusive and using my pro nouns I have found some of young people say how relived they feel that they can identify freely and knowing they wont be judged. I feel they creates a safe space where a person can invite whatever thoughts, expressions , idea’s into the space and hopefully by the end of the session they feel empowered, a stronger sense of self or knowing they have someone they might get them or at least wanting to understand her/ them / him. I feel that only few have opened up and if I’d not opened up these conversations, this gap will be missed and the young people are feeling like they have to hide parts of them self and unable to be their true authentic self. It seemed to fit with the occasional young person, some other practitioners who were seeing the same clients for other reasons and had a small impact on management. It’s still changing because no matter how much you try to support the ideas of healthy, inclusive safe change their are going to be few who get it and support this, however a majority who wont. I feel this is plenty of reason for continuing to learn and grow so I can hopefully provide the services I can and the client(s) can get the most out of the time shared together, that support and strengthens themselves and connections to positive, supportive, healthy support networks such as; parents /carers, family, significant others and communities.
sylphillipsayre@yahoo.com.au
February 28, 2022Zane in Chapter 6 Narrative Practice with Families the video 2- Work with queer & trans people & their loved ones including: Resisting pathologisation of gender diverse young people; letters, documents & externalising.
I found this video really stood out and resonated with me, it was was very rich and client centred :)
Acknowledging power and politics that exist at all levels is something that registered for me. Ensuring when working with families we acknowledge and discuss both discourses and affirmatives for the actual client and their family members.
Positioning client to externalise issues, so that client is the expert of his/ her/ their own lives. Supporting identified strategies that support unification / healing of individuals / family from fears, concerns, insecurities felt.
I’m very keen to connect and find out more about the service Our Place.
Thank you all for this amazing opportunity to grow, expand on my own concepts, knowledge and skills and hopefully practice in the most safest ways I can with clients in the future.
Megan M. Matthews
February 23, 2022Hi, I’m Megan (say it: MEE-gan) Matthews, writing from greater Cleveland, Ohio, USA; my pronouns are she/her.
The main thing that I’ve been doing to queer my practice boils down to… the word I use for it is “languaging”. Languaging goes beyond asking people what name they would like to be called or what pronouns they prefer, extending further into using normalizing language when speaking to or about people in marginalized groups. One example of this would be using the word “gender-expansive” as a general term for those who identify as something other than specifically male or specifically female, rather than using the term “nonbinary” (or, in some circles, the shorthand “enby”) which still places binary gender as a sort of “default setting”.
At one memorable time that I put languaging into practice, it was done in what I considered to be a small way, but it had a big impact on the person I was speaking with. Recently I was working with a young adultperson (I wrote that as all one word on purpose) who had asked for my help in filling out a form to request disability accommodations in the workplace due to executive functioning issues. There were numerous spots on the form requiring a narrative response from me referring to my client, so I asked, “I saw that on your intake paperwork, you listed both they/them and she/her as preferred pronouns; which would you like me to use for this form specifically?” My client paused, seeming mildly startled, then said, “For this form in particular, she/her is fine… and thank you for asking.” I felt, and still feel, like that was the moment they began to trust me to take their preferences into account, and to treat each situation separately. I felt connected with them in a way that I hadn’t before; all because I not only noticed two different sets of preferred pronouns, but also because I asked which ones I should use in that moment.