Conference Agenda

A 60 minute or 90 minute workshop facilitated by Dr Louise Austin

Contemporary psychoanalytic understanding of countertransference expands researcher reflexivity to utilise rather than ‘bracket’ emotional responses that might emerge in our relational encounters. This workshop is aimed at psychosocial researchers and adult educators who are interested in exploring ways of learning from their emotional responses towards research participants and/or adult learners.

In this workshop I introduce ways to utilise metaphor and image to reveal unconscious relational dynamics, uncover blind spots and discover new ways of meaning making. There will be an opportunity for you to enter a process of reflexive self-examination through working with images, however, no art experience is needed just bring along your lively curiosity and an openness to experiment.

My innovative arts-based methodology – collaborative imaginative engagement – that involves making and working with images of countertransference was devised for my PhD research into the emotional and relational experiences of the adult educator. This collaborative research method draws upon psychosocial and Jungian approaches to utilise countertransference as an affective and imaginal way of knowing, taking us beyond the surface to access unconscious processes.

The aim of this practical workshop is to frame painful and difficult moments of relational encounter as ‘blessings in disguise’ (Freud and Jung, 1906-13) for the researcher and educator, and to promote the capacity to be vulnerable as a core condition for relational reflexivity.