This study explores the ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators have experienced working together as allies for social and racial justice. The study is grounded in anti-oppressive, decolonizing, and participatory action research paradigms. Theoretically, it is framed by anti-racism and anti-oppressive approaches that highlight oppression, exploitation, and power. Within the theoretical field of antiracism, there is a tendency to ignore Indigeneity, and the ongoing oppression and racialization of Indigenous peoples (Lawrence & Dua, 2005; St. Denis, 2007). This study puts Indigeneity and oppression at the forefront of ally development research. The research was modeled upon an action research method called co-operative inquiry (Heron, 1996). The inquiry group involved seven group members, including the researcher. These group members came from diverse racial and social backgrounds. They were all women who work in diverse educational capacities (adult educators, nurse educator, counselor, teacher, lawyer). The inquiry spanned 11 weeks, with 18 hours spent together over six group sessions. Two Indigenous leaders joined the group in two sessions, to lend their experiences and insights on the role of allies. Group members retained a high level of commitment throughout the study. The study was a success in terms of analyzing many of the issues Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators face when working together. It also highlighted the roles of allies and useful strategies for allies to use. The study was shown to have a high level of catalytic validity (Herr & Anderson, 2005) as many group members reported a high degree of both epistemological (what they know) and ontological (how they become) learning. The results of this study lead to new insights on how allies have traditionally been conceptualized and the role that ontology plays in learning. The study also discusses how the congruence between topic and method was navigated, and how that in turn led to the creation of an allied space. / Graduate

Until recently, research into dreaming followed the reductionist paradigm within a Freudian framework. This line of enquiry has failed to date to provide a meaningful relationship between neuropsychology and dreaming. As a result, theory development has halted, original therapeutic approaches outside the analytic tradition are scarce, and practitioners are disempowered when confronted with dream material. However, in recent years the concept of consciousness is back on the scientific agenda and the study of the subjective experience of dreaming is once again possible. Eight coinquirers employed Heron’s (1996) co-operative inquiry. We collaboratively explored our experience of dreaming holding seven meetings over six months. Paradoxically, we found that our experiences and understandings were similar and conflicting, mirroring the current debates in dream research. Our findings indicate strong links with waking consciousness, and that dreams are a source of entertainment, insight, problem solving and angst. Our study also highlighted that directing our awareness altered the nature of our dreams and our perceptions. Implications for Counselling Psychology theory, practice and research are discussed. It is argued that intentionality is a key concept and should be incorporated in Counselling Psychology research, theory and practice.

Building relationships in the world of online groups is a recent, exciting and challenging area for the field of group facilitation. Evidence has shown that online groups with strong relationship links are more effective and more resilient than those with without them. Yet, the processes and techniques to effectively facilitate the building of these online relationships are not yet understood and there is scant empirical knowledge to assist practicing group facilitators in this important task. Challenges arise when many of the embodied aspects of inter-personal communication, such as body language, tone of voice, emotions, energy levels and context are not easily readable by group members and facilitators. Many of the well established group processes and interventions that facilitators rely upon in face-to-face situations do not translate effectively or are simply not available in an online group situation. Storytelling, however, presented one approach from the domain of face-to-face group facilitation that might translate well online. Storytelling is well known as an enabler for people to connect at a deeper and an embodied level. It can be highly effective at building strong social ties and group resilience – right across a wide range of settings. This thesis inquired into storytelling’s potential for online facilitation practice with the question of how is storytelling beneficial in building relationships in a facilitated online group? Starting with the premise that storytelling will be an effective approach, eighteen facilitators from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) came together to collectively research the area using a participative approach. The intent of the approach was to involve online facilitation practitioners in the research so that their motivations, ways of looking at things, and questions could have value and that their experiences would be at the heart of the data generated. A variety of online software tools were used including: email, Skype™ conferencing, telephone conferencing, video and web conferencing, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), blogging, online surveys and within the 3-D interactive world of Second Life™. The study affirmed that storytelling assisted relationship development across a range of online settings. As anticipated, storytelling aided identity creation; scenario description; describing conflict and to articulate learning edges. The availability of an extra text channel during a primarily oral communication is seen as a potentially valuable contribution to the art of storytelling. In addition, the study offers a challenge to the storytelling field in proposing that direct contact between teller and listener is not always a priori requirement. The blending of roles raises some ethical challenges for online facilitation practice. The also inquiry confirmed that software tool selection was critical for ensuring full participation and buy-in to online group decisions. The 3-D, avatar-based medium of Second Life™ assisted with emotional connections. A range of new opportunities emerged through co-researchers engaging with the research process that inform the practice of group facilitation. They expand the role and horizons of the online facilitator in relation to the wider profession of group facilitation. Reflections are made about the International Association of Facilitators Statement of Values and Code of Ethics for Group Facilitators and IAF Core Competencies and some guidelines for the practice of online facilitation are offered.

Building relationships in the world of online groups is a recent, exciting and challenging area for the field of group facilitation. Evidence has shown that online groups with strong relationship links are more effective and more resilient than those with without them. Yet, the processes and techniques to effectively facilitate the building of these online relationships are not yet understood and there is scant empirical knowledge to assist practicing group facilitators in this important task. Challenges arise when many of the embodied aspects of inter-personal communication, such as body language, tone of voice, emotions, energy levels and context are not easily readable by group members and facilitators. Many of the well established group processes and interventions that facilitators rely upon in face-to-face situations do not translate effectively or are simply not available in an online group situation. Storytelling, however, presented one approach from the domain of face-to-face group facilitation that might translate well online. Storytelling is well known as an enabler for people to connect at a deeper and an embodied level. It can be highly effective at building strong social ties and group resilience – right across a wide range of settings. This thesis inquired into storytelling’s potential for online facilitation practice with the question of how is storytelling beneficial in building relationships in a facilitated online group? Starting with the premise that storytelling will be an effective approach, eighteen facilitators from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) came together to collectively research the area using a participative approach. The intent of the approach was to involve online facilitation practitioners in the research so that their motivations, ways of looking at things, and questions could have value and that their experiences would be at the heart of the data generated. A variety of online software tools were used including: email, Skype™ conferencing, telephone conferencing, video and web conferencing, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), blogging, online surveys and within the 3-D interactive world of Second Life™. The study affirmed that storytelling assisted relationship development across a range of online settings. As anticipated, storytelling aided identity creation; scenario description; describing conflict and to articulate learning edges. The availability of an extra text channel during a primarily oral communication is seen as a potentially valuable contribution to the art of storytelling. In addition, the study offers a challenge to the storytelling field in proposing that direct contact between teller and listener is not always a priori requirement. The blending of roles raises some ethical challenges for online facilitation practice. The also inquiry confirmed that software tool selection was critical for ensuring full participation and buy-in to online group decisions. The 3-D, avatar-based medium of Second Life™ assisted with emotional connections. A range of new opportunities emerged through co-researchers engaging with the research process that inform the practice of group facilitation. They expand the role and horizons of the online facilitator in relation to the wider profession of group facilitation. Reflections are made about the International Association of Facilitators Statement of Values and Code of Ethics for Group Facilitators and IAF Core Competencies and some guidelines for the practice of online facilitation are offered.

This thesis explores the possibility of dialogue between leader and follower in order to further develop the theory and practice of relational leadership. It draws from and contributes to Relational Leadership Theory (Uhl-Bien 2006) and Buber’s concept of ‘I- Thou’ dialogue (Buber 1958). Using first-person and co-operative inquiry methods (Reason and Bradbury 2008b) the ‘space between’ (Bradbury and Lichtenstein 2000, Buber 1958) leader and follower is explored in order to reveal the complexities inherent within leadership relations. Four main findings are detailed which enrich our understanding of how leadership relations operate from ‘within living involvement’ (Shotter 2006). Firstly, the quality of leader-follower encounter could be affected by levels of ‘busyness’ and the ensuing assessment and prioritising process. Secondly, the pressure to ‘seem’ rather than ‘be’ may strengthen the construction of a façade which might be dismantled, in part, through disclosure, though this may feel extremely risky given organisational ‘rules’. Thirdly, mutuality between leader and follower may be crucially influenced by the way in which ‘leader’, ‘leadership’ and ‘power’ are constructed in the between space. Finally, ineffable dialogic moments may occur through sensing a particular quality of encounter amidst and despite the complexity of a myriad of micro-processes vying for attention in the between space. This thesis contributes a further strand to RLT constructionist work focused on the quality of leader-follower encounter which has not been previously revealed. Leadership constructs and macro-discourses relating to power, ‘busyness’ and the need for ‘worthwhile meetings’ encourages transactional relating. Consequently, opportunities for genuinely encountering others in organisational settings are suffocated. This holds important implications for ‘leaders’ and ‘followers’ who wish to creatively address pressing organisational issues in the 21st century through dialogue. Fundamentally this thesis suggests we pause to consider the implications that the nature of our encounters in our work-life have upon us as human beings wishing to know what it is to be fully human.

Key Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine complex concerns and challenges encountered by counselling and psychotherapy trainers, and support them to deliver a consistent, relationship-centred learning approach within Higher Education (HE). Background: Counselling and psychotherapy training is central to regulating practice, however, studies conceptualising trainers’ concerns and challenges in the United Kingdom (UK) are sparse. Literature generally evaluates trainer challenges from a professional competence and/or gatekeeping perspective. Little evidence exists identifying problems connected with ‘professionalisation’. Aims and Objectives: The aim was to evaluate trainers’ multidimensional unease that can hinder working relationships. The intention was to: explore difficult patterns of behaviour and group dynamics in the ‘training alliance’; explore trainers’ perceptions and experiences when confronted with gatekeeping issues; collaboratively develop strategies to enhance trainers’ learning experience; examine the processes needed to sustain these strategies; and identify the lessons learnt to inform practice, education, and research. Approach and Methods: A qualitative, co-operative inquiry approach enabled trainers to question their situated and propositional knowledge, reconcile professional challenges, allay concerns about individual fitness to practice, and provide alternative responses to students, peers, and managerial hierarchies in HE and professional bodies. This approach has a political and social element, according with personal desire to make change. Thematic analysis uncovered new insights, expanded or modified principles and re-examine accepted interpretations during 8 inquiry sessions with 5 experienced trainers, and 3 associated workshops. A primarily iterative and inductive process of immersion, involved reflexive engagement, and sharing of data with trainer/practitioners. Findings: 6 overarching themes were identified: Trying to Make Sense of Significant Events; Negotiating Conflict and Incongruity in Training Groups; Navigating Inherent Challenges within Counsellor Training Teams; Teaching as a Never-Ending Challenge; Organisational Constraints and Challenges; and Contemplating Individual Connection in a Collaborative Context. Discussion and Conclusion: Findings supported previous research suggesting trainers require training, and that trainers’ concerns and challenges are interlinked; beginning with interpersonal challenges that subsequently impact on trainers’ professional and intra-personal sense of identity. Co-operative inquiry can benefit programme teams in terms of the co-construction of trainers’ realities and dynamic negotiation of meaning. Co-researchers’ knowledge and confidence in responding to potential conflict in training was enhanced. To achieve the best outcome, this knowledge needs implementing in practice; programme team involvement is a prerequisite, and support is required by professional bodies and HE to ensure ethical training practice in the face of student disgruntlement, management demands in HE and from professional accrediting bodies.

This thesis explores the possibility of dialogue between leader and follower in order to further develop the theory and practice of relational leadership. It draws from and contributes to Relational Leadership Theory (Uhl-Bien 2006) and Buber’s concept of ‘I- Thou’ dialogue (Buber 1958). Using first-person and co-operative inquiry methods (Reason and Bradbury 2008b) the ‘space between’ (Bradbury and Lichtenstein 2000, Buber 1958) leader and follower is explored in order to reveal the complexities inherent within leadership relations. Four main findings are detailed which enrich our understanding of how leadership relations operate from ‘within living involvement’ (Shotter 2006). Firstly, the quality of leader-follower encounter could be affected by levels of ‘busyness’ and the ensuing assessment and prioritising process. Secondly, the pressure to ‘seem’ rather than ‘be’ may strengthen the construction of a façade which might be dismantled, in part, through disclosure, though this may feel extremely risky given organisational ‘rules’. Thirdly, mutuality between leader and follower may be crucially influenced by the way in which ‘leader’, ‘leadership’ and ‘power’ are constructed in the between space. Finally, ineffable dialogic moments may occur through sensing a particular quality of encounter amidst and despite the complexity of a myriad of micro-processes vying for attention in the between space. This thesis contributes a further strand to RLT constructionist work focused on the quality of leader-follower encounter which has not been previously revealed. Leadership constructs and macro-discourses relating to power, ‘busyness’ and the need for ‘worthwhile meetings’ encourages transactional relating. Consequently, opportunities for genuinely encountering others in organisational settings are suffocated. This holds important implications for ‘leaders’ and ‘followers’ who wish to creatively address pressing organisational issues in the 21st century through dialogue. Fundamentally this thesis suggests we pause to consider the implications that the nature of our encounters in our work-life have upon us as human beings wishing to know what it is to be fully human.

Using a Collaborative Action Research (CAR) approach, ten youth were involved as co-researchers in the development and implementation of a Community Youth Mapping (CYM) project in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. Youth were trained to be co-researchers, involved in: Research design, recruiting interview respondents, collecting, transcribing, and analysing data as well as developing a knowledge-transfer strategy. The research questions guiding this study were: 1. What is the experience of conducting a Collaborative Action Research (CAR) approach in the development and implementation of a Community Youth Mapping (CYM) project in order to gain an understanding of the opportunities and supports (through people, places and activities) for young people to build elements that facilitate positive youth development (PYD)? 2. What types of data are Youth Mappers able to collect using a variety of methods and technology? 3. What are the benefits to the youth participating in this study? Youth Mappers collected data from 174 of their peers through key informant interviews and focus group sessions, mapping resources in the form of people, places and activities where youth found opportunities and support to build elements that facilitate PYD and examining potential explanatory themes underlying the qualitative data. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) technology were used to map locations of people, places and activities (PPA) in the different neighbourhoods within the City of Surrey. Youth Mappers reported gaining a broad array of benefits including: research, technological and communication skills, knowledge about positive youth development and changes in the way they perceived themselves as supporting youth in their community. Some additional training and organizational support may have assisted the Youth Mappers in recruitment of respondents and in data collection. The study found that youth’s primary resources for building elements that facilitate PYD were found in informal settings such as malls, restaurants, friend’s and their own homes, within the company of friends and family. Formal settings included work, schools and sport and recreation facilities with co-workers, teachers, coaches and team members. Fewer resources were reported for formal organizations. Youth are in need of more places to socialize together that are run similarly to church organizations but with non-religious affiliation, making membership more open to a diverse youth. Young people also want more opportunities to collaborate with adults within their communities on a formal and informal basis. The Surrey Community Youth Mapping project was instrumental in providing the initial foundation for a broader Community Youth Development Initiative and immediately garnered the interest of schools and organizations within the community and provincially. Recommendations were made for modifying this kind of study for different audiences.

Using a qualitative case study approach, a study looking at what student co-researchers value while they are part of a research team was conducted. The three questions guiding this study included: What personal changes did student co-researchers experience? How does a Co-operative Inquiry approach contribute to youth engagement and positive youth development? And, What adult skills are evident in building a strong youth led research project? Data was collected from a Co-operative Inquiry research project entitled 62 Ways to Change the World. The multiple sources of data included: key informative interviews and a focus group with student co-researchers from 62 Ways to Change the World and all documents pertaining to the research project. By understanding what young people value while they are on a project team strategies that contribute to sustainable student-led research can be developed and shared with organizations, educational institutions and governments that are currently or are interested in conducting research with young students.

Over the last decades the weight has increased in the Norwegian population. Report no 16 to the Storting, “Prescription for a healthier Norway”, expresses concern for this development and defines important areas of commitment to prevent a further increase in health problems like diabetes 2 and other lifestyle related diseases. The foci described above are all justified by figures and statistical surveys. The dominant approach towards lifestyle related diseases is closely connected with Western medicine. The main tendency in the recommendations is primarily presenting overweight and obesity as something negative and problematic.  This study focuses on self-assessment and self-perception of people that are overweight as well as those of normal weight. The aim is to reveal the collective understanding in a local community that struggles to avoid a further weight-gain in its population. This thesis seeks to, shed light on how the weight- evolvement in the Norwegian society influence peoples individual self-image and body perception. A local community in Norway (“Libygda”) defined by media, some years ago, as the most overweight local community in the country, constitutes the basis for this thesis. Methods like fieldwork, multistage focus group interviews and individual interviews (all carried out in “Libygda”) were used. The main focus in all the approaches is the bottom up strategy gained through the research approach Co-operative Inquiry which implies that both researcher and participants together search to gain insight and new experiential knowledge. In this case about individual health perception, body and identity. The data material is analyzed mainly through Life Mode-Theory, and theories of social capital (and other theories from the Social Science field). Methodological and theoretical approaches within Public Health Work are mainly based in Health Science, whereas this thesis has Social Science (Sociology and Social Anthropology) as its point of departure. The thesis will by its perspective aim to complement the traditional Health Science and offer a supplemental approach to the Science of Public Health. This thesis describes how experience-based perspectives on health and body exist side by side with the medical and Public Health Science perspective. This implies that there exists a parallel understanding of reality, which is rarely focused on by health professionals. If Public Health Work should gain a greater impact on peoples’ everyday life, these experience based and folk perspectives must be taken into consideration and accepted by professionals as relevant. / De siste tiårene har vekten økt i den norske befolkningen. Stortingsmelding nr 16 ”Resept for et sunnere Norge” uttrykker uro for denne utviklingen og definerer viktige satsningsområder for å hindre en økning i antallet diabetes 2 og andre livsstilsrelaterte sykdommer. Satsningsområdene beskrevet over er alle basert på og dokumentert ved statistiske undersøkelser. Hovedtendensen i anbefalingene har som utgangspunkt at overvekt og fedme er assosiert med noe negativt og problematisk. Denne avhandlingens fokus er den subjektive selvoppfatningen til både normalvektige og overvektige. Hensikten er å avdekke den kollektive forståelsen av helse og et godt liv i et lokalsamfunn med overvektsutfordringer i befolkningen. Avhandlingen søker å belyse hvordan vektøkning i det norske samfunnet påvirker individers selvbilde og kroppsforståelse, og hvordan dette speiles på lokalsamfunnsnivå. Et lokalsamfunn i Sør-Norge (”Libygda”), definert av media rundt tusenårsskiftet som den mest overvektige kommunen i Norge, danner utgangspunktet for denne studien. Metoder som feltarbeid, deltagende observasjon, flerstegs fokusgruppeintervju, individuelle intervjuer (alt uført i ”Libygda”) blir benyttet. Hovedfokuset i de metodiske tilnærmingene er en nedenfra-og-opp inngang inspirert av handlingsorientert forskningssamarbeid, hvor både forsker og deltakere sammen søker ny innsikt og erfaringskunnskap om individuell og kollektiv helseoppfatning, kroppsforståelse og identitet. Datamaterialet blir analysert i lys av livsformteori, sosial kapital og andre relevante samfunnsvitenskapelige teorier. Metodiske og teoretiske tilnærminger innen folkehelsearbeidet er ofte knyttet til helseforskningen, mens denne avhandlingen har et samfunnsvitenskapelig (sosiologi og sosialantropologi) utgangspunkt. Avhandlingens perspektiv søker å komplementere tradisjonell helseforskning med en erfaringsbasert tilnærming til folkehelsevitenskapen. Avhandlingen beskriver hvordan erfaringsbaserte og folkelige perspektiver på helse og kropp lever side om side med den medisinske og folkehelsevitenskaplige. Dette innebærer at det eksisterer en parallell forståelse av virkeligheten, som sjelden blir tillagt vekt eller fokusert av helsepersonell eller akademia. Hvis folkehelsearbeid skal få større innflytelse og gjennomslagskraft i menneskers hverdagsliv, må disse erfaringsbaserte og folkelige perspektivene inkluderes av fagfolk.