Understanding the bigger picture in trauma recovery

Dr Dennis’ research explored how therapists discuss the sociopolitical context of trauma with survivors of interpersonal violence. It focused on how these conversations unfold in therapy, what skills practitioners draw on and how they can support healing.

The study examined how therapists navigated discussions around issues such as rape culture, colonisation, transphobia, war and conflict, and how those wider systems influenced survivors’ experiences. The study drew on interviews with psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists, using a narrative approach to explore how therapists understand and share their experiences of these conversations in practice.

One of the strongest themes was how important these types of conversations were in helping people move away from shame and self-blame.

“My findings challenge the idea that therapy should focus only on what is within an individual’s control,” Dr Dennis says.

“When people explored the wider systems shaping their lives, it helped them rewrite their own story, shift the shame and self-blame they had felt and enabled more choices about how they interacted with the world.”,

The research found that acknowledging the broader forces affecting a person’s life often strengthened their sense of agency and helped connect them with others who shared similar experiences.

The work also has practical implications for the profession. Dr Dennis developed a reflective framework to help therapists assess their own position, power and approach when holding conversations about political context in the therapy room.

She hopes the findings will strengthen training programmes for future therapists.

“I would love to see training programmes for therapists, across the board, have a focus on awareness of power within the therapy room and wider world, and how this impacts clients and the therapy process.”

Dr Dennis says her supervisors played a vital role in the completion of her research.

“One thing which made a big difference in my journey was having good research supervisors. Associate Professor Clifford van Ommen, Dr Kathryn McGuigan and Associate Professor Simon Bennett were fantastic and responsive, which was a huge help in pushing through the stuck points you hit along the way.”

For Dr Dennis, the research reflects a long-standing interest in the connection between individual healing and wider societal change.

Before moving into mental health, she spent years working in systems-level change and on issues of sexual and interpersonal violence, where the impact of power and politics on wellbeing was clear.

Now working in a private practice, she supports teenagers, adults, activists and changemakers with their mental health, continuing the same values that shaped her research.