Gillian Brown
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Email
gb19984@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
Profile
- Ecopsychology, ecotherapy (nature-based therapeutic practice)
- Jungian and post-Jungian thinking on the concept of the symbol
- Methodological approaches to understanding psyche in relation the other-than-human
- PPS Postgraduate research conference (organisation)
Biography
I have a background in Psychotherapy, Ecopsychology, community mental health support and mental health training. I am also a longstanding member and former chair of the Cambridge Jungian Circle. Before returning to study I ran a not-for-profit therapeutic horticulture and ecotherapy project and delivered workshops on nature-based wellbeing. I am currently a facilitator and affiliated therapist with Wilderness Foundation UK and work as a psychotherapist in private practice. I am a mother to four adult children and proud grandmother of two.
Qualifications
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BA Degree (Linguistics Major) University of Hertfordshire (1986)
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MA Degree SOPH/Middlesex University (2007)
Research and professional activities
Thesis
An enquiry into the application of Jungian thinking on the concept of the symbol to the dynamics of meaningful encounter with nature-based, other-than-human, phenomena
Although, for Jung, the symbol is generally treated as an inner product of the psyche, nature-based practitioners often report how external elements of the environment can mirror aspects of psyche in ways that recall the symbolic products of dream, fantasy, creative activity and myth. Through conceptual research and empirical study, I will investigate whether Jung’s descriptions of the symbol can provide an effective way to interpret such meaningful encounters with other-than-human phenomena.
Supervisor: Dr Ann Addison
