Previous research emphasises the importance of a counsellor’s ‘way of being’ in determining therapeutic effectiveness and outcome. The capacity to tolerate uncertainty is regarded as an important counsellor attribute. However, failing to show how counsellors learn this, limits the practical relevance of the existing literature for psychotherapy and counselling. This study questions how a counsellor can learn to bring his or her self more fully into relationship with clients and what the implications of this learning process on counselling work are. Central to this study is Levine’s (2002) conception that learning occurs through a willingness to think about experiences, which necessitates facing uncertainty. This thesis argues that the capacity to tolerate uncertainty is an individual learning process and a precondition for a counsellor developing his or her ‘way of being’ or therapeutic ‘use of self’ (Wosket, 1999). In this study, the counselling practitioner-researcher draws on her own learning process to show how reflection on personal issues triggered by experiences of uncertainty, that could obstruct a counsellor’s emotional availability necessary for ‘use of self’, may be a fundamental part of counsellor professional development. A learning process is demonstrated through reflection on five vignettes of experiences of uncertainty from life and counselling practice. Beginning with an inexplicable experience in counselling practice that the counsellor struggles to understand her response to, she wonders how her difficulty with tolerating uncertainty might relate to experiences of uncertainty and learned defences from her childhood and adolescence. Through an experience with a client’s overt uncertainty, the practitioner grasps the difference between trying to tolerate uncertainty and developing this capacity as a ‘way of being’. When creative and play work with a child client challenges use of the counsellor’s defences, her learning moves from a conceptual understanding to an embodied one. She becomes more present and vulnerable with clients allowing for connection with clients and greater depth in counselling work. The practitioner-researcher attributes this personal learning to the six phases of Sela Smith’s (2002) heuristic self-search inquiry that requires immersing in uncertainty, dwelling in the research question and accessing tacit knowledge. This study contributes to a lack of practical literature within psychotherapy and counselling on how counsellors develop their therapeutic ‘use of self’, a way of being that has been linked to effective therapeutic outcome yet only a small number of therapists possess. Although the process and findings of this subjective study cannot be generalised, it aims to stimulate each counsellors’ own reflection on therapeutic ‘use of self’. This study suggests a heuristic self-search framework for a counsellor to confront his or her own relationship to uncertainty as an integral part of professional development beyond what training can provide.

This study examines how Taiwanese senior counsellors with substantial experience of ch’i-related exercise (CRE) perceived the influence of their regular CRE on their counselling practice. I am interested in the perceived influence of CRE on both self-care and professional practice. In this studyn this studyn this study n this study n this study n this study, CRE, CRE, CRE, CRE, CRE refers to any refers to any refers to any refers to any ch'i enhancing exercise that coordinates movement with breathing and inner concentration wherein ch'i is a first order concept used by practitioners and regarded by them as an embodiment of ideas related to human life and human existence and able to be experienced and refined through any ch'i related exercise. CRE is a set of practices and an intrinsic part of local culture in Taiwan which in recent years, has become popular practice in Taiwanese society. There are growing numbers of counselling professionals involved in regular CRE in recent years. Studies examining the effects of CRE indicate the benefits of CRE on practitioners' global health and personal growth. However, no previous study has investigated the influence of the long-term regular use of CRE on counsellors‟ self-care and counselling practice. The narrative research design for this study was developed from a post-structural theoretical perspective located in the domain of social constructivism. The data were co-constructed between the researcher and 12 senior Taiwanese counsellors with substantial CRE experience using a semi-structured in-depth interview approach. Interview data were analysed using the structure-based approach developed by William Labov in the field of socio-linguistics. The study reveals an overall benefit of regular involvement in CRE for practitioners' global wellbeing and personal growth counsellor' self-care. The research findings also reveals the potential of ch’i to be used as a way of expressing health and illness and a way of understanding in therapy and CRE to be lived out in therapy as an embodiment. I argue that collectively the narratives, as a whole, give evidence of an increasing integratin of the ideas and practices of ch’i into counselling practice in contemporary Taiwan. This might even make up a new form of integrated and culturally appropriate practice, what I term "a new way of healing." These are therapeutic practices which value the potential of CRE for counsellor's self-care and personal growth; recognize the integral whole of the human person; promote conscious use of the knowledge and experience of ch’i and CRE in therapy as an important aspect of the therapeutic use of self. Implications for practice such as the potential of CRE to be introduced into counsellor training programmes for counsellors' preparation or ongoing education are provided. Recommendations for future research such as the development of a new healing modality based on the research findings are offered.

Bakgrund Funktionella neurologiska symtom (FNS) innebär att en patient drabbas av dysfunktion i nervsystemet utan medicinsk bakomliggande orsak. Forskning visar att multidisciplinär rehabilitering, som inkluderar arbetsterapi, är effektiv för att hjälpa dessa patienter. Det saknas dock studier om arbetsterapeutiska behandlingar som är specifika för patienter med FNS. Syfte Syftet var att beskriva arbetsterapeuters erfarenheter av att arbeta med patienter med FNS. Metod Studien har en kvalitativ design där 14 deltagare intervjuades. En semistrukturerad intervjuguide användes. Data analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat Resultatet består av två teman: Erfarenhet och kunskap ger förutsättningar för att hjälpa en komplex patientgrupp och Arbetsterapeutens verktyg i behandling är aktivitet och terapeutisk användning av sig själv. Gemensamt för de två teman är att kunskapsbaserad och personcentrerad vård med aktivitet i fokus är viktiga i arbetsterapeutens arbete för patienter med FNS.  Slutsats Arbetsterapeuten, med tillgång till erfarenhet och kunskap i sin egen yrkesroll samt kollegor i vården, har förutsättningar att hjälpa den komplexa patientgrupp som de med FNS uppfattas som. Arbetsterapeuten använder aktivitet som medel under hela behandlingen och sig själv terapeutiskt i sitt bemötande och i det samspel som uppstår i den gemensamma dialogen med patienten med FNS. Med sitt fokus på patientens förmåga till aktivitet har arbetsterapeuten en betydande roll i det multidisciplinära omhändertagandet av patienten med FNS. / Background Functional neurological disorders (FND), means that a patient suffers from dysfunction in the nervous system without an underlying medical cause. Research shows that there is evidence that multidisciplinary rehabilitation, which includes occupational therapists, is effective in helping these patients. There is a lack of evidence for occupational therapy treatments that are specific to patients with FND. Aim The aim of the study was to describe occupational therapists' experiences of working with patients with FND. Method The study had a qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 14 participants. Data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results The result are presented by two themes: Experience and knowledge provide the conditions for helping a complex patient group and The occupational therapist`s tool in treatment is activity and therapeutic use of self. Common the two themes are that knowledgebased and person-centered care with activity in focus are important in the occupational therapists work for patients with FND. Conclusion The occupational therapist, with access to experience and knowledge in her own professional role as well as through colleagues in care, has the conditions to help the complex patient group that patients with FND are perceived as. The occupational therapist uses activity as a means throughout the treatment and herself therapeutically in her treatment and in the interaction that arises in the joint dialogue with the patient with FND. With focus on the patient´s abilities related to activity, the occupational therapist has a significant role in the multidisciplinary care of the patient with FND.

Bakgrund: Öppenhet om psykisk ohälsa är något som har fått allt mer medial uppmärksamhet. Konceptet öppenhet är brett och innefattar flertal definitioner såsom transparens, som i att vara ärlig och inte gömma information, samt ett förhållningssätt som präglas av bland annat tolerans och förmågan att acceptera nya perspektiv och idéer. Öppenhet avhandlas i denna studie från perspektivet av sjuksköterskor med egen erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att utforska sjuksköterskors upplevelser och erfarenheter av öppenhet gällande psykisk ohälsa samt att avtäcka öppenhetens meningsbärande enheter utifrån ett omvårdnadsperspektiv. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ studiedesign med en fenomenologisk hermeneutisk forskningsansats. Information samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i 3 övergripande teman: öppenhet som transparens, öppenhet som förhållningssätt och öppenhetens kraft och fundamentala växelverkan. Helhetstolkningen  visade att öppenhet är en förutsättning för all typ av medmänsklig interaktion och kommunikation. Att dela med sig av erfarenheter av psykisk ohälsa är transparens med intentionalitet kopplat till både strävan efter en bättre värld och ett sätt att visa omsorg. Helhetstolkningen mynnade ut i att sjuksköterskors öppenhet gällande egen erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa i hög grad påverkades av upplevd stigma. Slutsats: Öppenhet har en inre självförstärkande kraft: öppenhet leder till öppenhet. Att dela med sig av egna erfarenheter av psykisk ohälsa ter sig har en stor potential i att skapa relationer präglade av ömsesidighet och medmänsklighet. Att bemöta med öppenhet är nyckeln till att ge transparensen en möjlighet att skapa en mer humanistisk och rättvis vård. / Background: Openness around mental health issues has gained increased media attention. The concept of openness is vast and includes multiple definition like transparency, as in to be honest and not hiding information, and also an approach characterized by, among others, tolerance and the ability to accept new perspectives and ideas. In this study openness is presented from the perspective of nurses with own experience of mental health issues. Aim: This study aims to explore nurses’ experiences and knowledge of openness regarding mental health issues and also uncover the meaning entities within the concept of openness from a nursing perspective. Method: The study uses a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Information was gained through semi-structured interviews. Findings: The analysis resulted in 3 main themes: openness as transparency, openness as an approach and the power and fundamental interactions of openness. The comprehensive understanding exposed openness as a postulate to all human interaction and communication. To share own experiences of mental health issues is transparency with intentionality including striving for a better world and mediate caring. The comprehensive understanding also indicated that nurses’ openness in sharing own experiences of mental health issues was impacted negatively by stigma experiences. Conclusion: Openness has an inner amplifying power: openness leads to openness. To share experiences regarding mental health issues appears to possess a great potential in creating relationships characterized by mutuality and compassion. To approach with openness is the key to give transparency the ability to create a more humane and just health care.