Counsellors’ Strength-based Practices in Secondary Schools: Managing Multiple Metanarratives

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aut.author.twitter@bright_char
aut.embargoNoen_NZ
aut.thirdpc.containsNoen_NZ
dc.contributor.advisorDevine, Nesta
dc.contributor.advisorDu Preez, Elizabeth
dc.contributor.advisorGoedeke, Sonja
dc.contributor.authorBright, Charmaine
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-05T00:07:23Z
dc.date.available2018-06-05T00:07:23Z
dc.date.copyright2018
dc.date.issued2018
dc.date.updated2018-06-01T06:15:35Z
dc.description.abstractSecondary school counsellors are often in a pivotal position to affect the lives of our young people and thus the philosophical framework and counselling modalities which inform and influence their practice are significant. This research explores the contribution school counsellors make towards positive youth development using strength-based counselling practices through the lens of a narrative methodology. Strength-based counselling draws from the ethos of positive psychology and focuses on promoting an adolescent’s strengths to enhance their wellbeing rather than focusing on limitations and problems. Most research into strength-based counselling focuses on the wellbeing of adults. Positive outcomes among youth and how these are achieved have received less attention. It is thus important to explore the role counsellors’ strength-based practices play in managing adolescents wellbeing, especially given the high incidence of youth suicide in New Zealand (Mental Health Foundation, 2017; Ministry of Health, 2016). To this end, counsellors in secondary schools in Auckland, New Zealand, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to elicit their narratives on strength-based counselling. The aims of the research were: To examine the multiple metanarratives available to counsellors in a secondary school context; to make sense of how these metanarratives construct strength-based counselling practices; to examine the potential influence of these constructions on co-creating adolescent wellbeing; and to explore the broader community’s influence on a counsellor’s practice. A distinct method of narrative analysis evolved in two stages: Narrative storyboards for form and content; and Narrative storyboards for context and metanarratives. These storyboards each reflect a different aspect of a counsellor’s narrative thereby adding a depth and richness to the interpretation process. The construction of this method of analysis drew on the research of a selection of authors who engage with narrative as theory and practice (Crossley, 2000; Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998; Zilber, Tuval-Mashiach, & Lieblich, 2008). Multiple metanarratives vie for counsellors’ attention and their adherence to their preferred metanarrative are erratic; drawing intermittently on both the traditional deficit metanarrative of the counselling profession as well as the strength metanarrative of strength-based counselling. The meanings counsellors assign to these metanarratives and the educational/counselling theories and school/systemic policies that underpin them may either encourage or discourage strength-based counselling in schools. This thesis further introduces a model for co-creating adolescent wellbeing using a strength-based counselling approach. Drawing from counsellors’ narratives and counselling processes this model for co-creating adolescent wellbeing may assist counsellors in a practical way: it provides school counsellors with a foundation from which to think about their practice in a strength-based manner but without ignoring existing issues and inherent tensions. This study is uniquely set in a New Zealand context and makes a contribution to our understanding of the diverse, complex and multifaceted nature of school counsellors’ strength-based practices in secondary schools. By acknowledging the multiple metanarratives that support and/or diminish a school counsellor’s practice, being mindful of the contexts school counsellors negotiate, and embracing the understandings that can be gleaned from their narratives, we may be more able to enhance our ability to address the prevalence of mental health issues for adolescents and enhance adolescent wellbeing.en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/11576
dc.language.isoenen_NZ
dc.publisherAuckland University of Technology
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.subjectStrength-based counsellingen_NZ
dc.subjectSchool counsellorsen_NZ
dc.subjectPositive psychologyen_NZ
dc.subjectNarrativeen_NZ
dc.subjectMetanarrativeen_NZ
dc.subjectAdolescenten_NZ
dc.subjectStrength-baseden_NZ
dc.subjectDeficit-baseden_NZ
dc.subjectCounsellingen_NZ
dc.subjectSocial constructionismen_NZ
dc.subjectCritical realismen_NZ
dc.subjectNarrative methodologyen_NZ
dc.subjectSecondary schoolsen_NZ
dc.subjectResilienceen_NZ
dc.subjectLieblich, Tuval-Maschiach, Zilberen_NZ
dc.subjectCrossleyen_NZ
dc.subjectContexten_NZ
dc.subjectCommunity supporten_NZ
dc.subjectStrength-based modelen_NZ
dc.subjectWell-beingen_NZ
dc.subjectWinsladeen_NZ
dc.subjectFour modes of reading a narrativeen_NZ
dc.subjectCategorical-contenten_NZ
dc.subjectThree-sphere model of external contexten_NZ
dc.subjectConstruction of a method of narrative analysisen_NZ
dc.subjectNarrative analysisen_NZ
dc.subjectSchool contexten_NZ
dc.subjectCounselling in a school contexten_NZ
dc.subjectResearcher as co-constructionisten_NZ
dc.subjectStory-map griden_NZ
dc.subjectHeuristic deviceen_NZ
dc.subjectEmbedded narrativesen_NZ
dc.subjectCounsellor contexten_NZ
dc.subjectAdolescent contexten_NZ
dc.subjectCommunity contexten_NZ
dc.subjectFamily contexten_NZ
dc.subjectTensionsen_NZ
dc.subjectFoucaulten_NZ
dc.titleCounsellors’ Strength-based Practices in Secondary Schools: Managing Multiple Metanarrativesen_NZ
dc.typeThesisen_NZ
thesis.degree.grantorAuckland University of Technology
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral Theses
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Educationen_NZ
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