Researching the Michael White Archive by Kelsi (Sassy) Semeschuk
In this Friday Afternoon Video, Kelsi speaks to her PhD research on Michael White’s video archive, which features approximately 300 video recordings of his therapeutic practice and educational teaching. With the support of Cheryl White, Penny White, and Dulwich Centre, who are the custodians of the Michael White archive, the main objective of this research project is to articulate aspects of Michael White’s therapeutic practice that have not yet been fully articulated in his published writings. Specifically, the focus is on White’s practice with people who have experiences of abuse and trauma, as this is the area that Kelsi has been practicing in – especially with survivors of childhood sexual abuse and assault.
It is important to note that this Friday Afternoon Video was recorded when Kelsi was 6 months into her 3.5 years research project and thus, it describes some of her initial curiosities and learnings from watching and cataloguing Michael White’s video archive. With this in mind, and in consultation with her primary PhD supervisor, David Denborough, it was decided that it might be important to also include a transcript from Kelsi’s recent ‘Meet the Author session’, which is a more up-to-date portrayal of where her research project has taken her. In this transcript, Kelsi responds to questions from narrative practitioners from around the world about her research into Michael White’s video archive.
Click here to download the transcript from Kelsi’s Meet the Author session
Click here to access Kelsi’s article Refusing to separate critique from respect, published in 2019
Click here to access Mary Heath and Sarah Strauven’s podcast, discussed in the transcript
Author biography
Kelsi Semeschuk (she/her) is a Canadian who lives and works on Kaurna Land, in Adelaide, South Australia. Kelsi completed the Masters of Narrative Therapy and Community Work (MNTCW) in 2018 and has been a tutor for the program ever since. Kelsi is also currently completing a PhD through the University of Melbourne on Michael White’s video archive, which features video-recordings from his therapeutic and teaching work. The focus of her research is on how Michael White responded to people with experiences of abuse and Kelsi is endeavouring to link these learnings to the therapeutic work of current narrative practitioners in the field. She can be contacted by email at kelsi.semeschuk@gmail.com
