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March 17, 2017 at 9:53 AM

My name is Shila Nair and I am conducting a research towards completing the Master of Counselling Degree, at the University of Auckland, within the Faculty of Education and Social Work. My Supervisor is Dr. Jan Wilson, an experienced Counsellor and Lecturer in the Counsellor Education Programme at Auckland University.

In my professional capacity, I am a practicing Counsellor fully registered with the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC). My work, for over15 years in New Zealand, has predominantly been with immigrant women and children of Asian, African and Middle Eastern origins. For over eight years, I have been counselling women survivors of domestic violence and their children, at Shakti, the organization where I work.

The research topic I have chosen has evolved from my experiences of working with ethnic immigrant women, especially survivors of domestic violence. When counselling such survivors, I was able to gain a fair insight into the emotional conflict and trauma they face when having to choose between conforming to traditions and the collectivist values of `family first’ (we) versus the `individual first’ (me). The counselling models presently being practiced within New Zealand may not provide the required recognition of the cultural dilemma arising out of such values for clients and I am seeking to explore the experiences in counselling from survivors themselves.

The research topic is titled: Narratives of Asian, African and Middle Eastern immigrant women survivors of domestic violence from collectivist backgrounds living in New Zealand: A qualitative study giving voice to their lived experiences in the context of therapy.

As the title suggests I am looking forward to hearing from women survivors who have experienced counselling in New Zealand and to listen to their reflections of their counselling experiences. The interviews will be held in confidence, individually, and at a date, time and place suitable to the participant. Through my study I hope to give validity to the voice of the survivor and enable her to become a collaborator in my research which I hope will shine a light on gaps that may exist in current counselling models.

My research has been granted ethical approval by the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee on Feb 27, 2017. The Reference Number is: 018649.

Attached is the Research Poster and the invitation to women survivors to participate in this research - download here. I would greatly appreciate if you could kindly circulate this email and poster within your agency, clients, friends and your networks.

I can be contacted on:

Email: snai150@aucklanduni.ac.nz   OR    cellphone: 027 5347251