Dual Focus

At present, I’m completing a PhD at Massey University that focuses on the positive sexual experiences of adult women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse.

In no way does my research focus negate negative experiences that people who have experienced childhood sexual abuse may have. Childhood sexual abuse is never OK. But the deficits aren’t ALL the picture. We need to round out the research to help understand the breadth of experiences that women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse have during their adult lives to better inform treatment responses and future research. Therapy, treatment, and research should be led collaboratively by survivors, for survivors.

the dual focus of my research is on the lived experiences and the social discourses that adult women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse may have accepted or resisted.

This dual focus, this dual lens, mirrors many aspects of fellow Canadian, Niva Piran’s, embodiment research programme, where she developed the world’s first embodiment concept based on women and girls’ experiences of embodiment. These concepts can be used across genders and with people of diverse backgrounds.

Embodiment

A big part of this research focuses on the embodiment that women experienced on their journey.

How they feel in their senses, within themselves.

Embodiment is the opposite of disocciation. It can be an essential part of healing.

In embodiment, we welcome ourselves home.

Haere mai ki te tīnana.

This research works with counselling as In my therapeutic mahi, I often draw on somatic therapies.

Feminism

Part-in-parcel with the strengths-based approach is the inclusion of feminism.

My research has a strong focus on 2nd and 3rd feminist waves.