Mia Zielinska
Thesis title: Maternal Preoccupation and the Mother's Self Development: When Dyadic Development is Delayed, Regressed, or Suspended
PhD supervisors:
Background
Mia is a practicing therapist who lives and works in Edinburgh.
Qualifications
BA (summa cum laude) Communications, Southern New Hampshire University
Pg Dip (w/ distinction) Counselling, University of Edinburgh
Responsibilities & affiliations
Member, BACP
Research summary
Mia's currently working on an autoethnographic Ph.D research project exploring a mother's self development in relationship with her multiply, profoundly disabled child. Using Winnicott's primary maternal preoccupation and contemporary feminist scholarship to explore personal experience within and between broader sociocultural and psychoanalytic discourses to consider influences to adult self development and identity particulary around maternity, femininity, and disability.
She is also interested in casual chat/conversation and how counsellors support (or do not support) community members connecting with one another in non-professional, non-therapy capacities. The Talking Booth was a project she ran in 2018 and one for which in 2019 she won the PCCS Books Student Research Award. The concept of the booth and its representation of community-sourced mental health support continues to be an interest of hers.
Current research interests
Maternal subjectivity, specifically mothers' experiences within a mother-[disabled]child dyad.Past research interests
Talking Booth - project that explored possible benefits of casual chat in regards to mental health and wellbeingAffiliated research centres
Conference details
25th Annual BACP Research Conference, Belfast, May 2019 - poster presenter
Invited speaker
BACP's Making Connections, Glasgow, July 2019