title: Conversations about absence and presence: Re-membering a loved partner in poetic form

authors: Penwarden, Sarah

subjects: Poetry

abstract: A key concern for therapists is how therapeutic change occurs, and what particular elements of therapy lead towards change. This project investigated how one approach in narrative therapy—rescued speech poetry—might enhance another therapeutic approach, re-membering conversations. Re-membering conversations nurture connections between a bereaved person and a loved person who has died. These conversations actively weave the stories of the lost loved one back into the life of the bereaved person, so that the loved one’s values and legacies continue to resound. This research explored how a literary approach—rescued speech poetry—potentially enhanced the nearness and contribution of a loved one, through capturing stories in a poetic form.

The study engaged eight participants, all of whom had lost a spouse or partner to death at least two years prior to their participation. Participants were invited into two counselling-like, research-focused conversations. The first conversation was a re-membering conversation which explored the ongoing contribution of the lost loved partner. Then, for each participant, I composed a folio of rescued speech and dialogical poems from their speaking, which they received in the post. In a second research conversation, I invited each participant to reflect on the effect of the poems in enhancing their re-membering. The poems produced for this research project, the Story bridges collection, appear in the preface in the electronic version of this thesis, and as a separate booklet in the bound version. 

The results chapters are presented in three distinct folds of six paired chapters. In a textual fold, the therapeutic and literary actions embedded in the poems are unfolded to gain a sense of how the poems sought to create effects. A case is made for the inclusion of a form of dialogical poetry alongside rescued speech poetry. In this dialogical poetry, the therapist’s responses to a participant’s re-membering story are intentionally interleaved with the story itself. 

In a dialogical fold, participant responses to the poetry folios—both the rescued speech and dialogical poems—are composed as poetic re-presentation. This approach displays participants’ responses to the folios, focusing on both the outcome of the therapy poems and the processes by which they created their effects. The participants reported that the poetry folios increased the resonance of the loved one in their lives. This resonance was produced not only by the poems as individual actors, but also through the particular processes of the research engagement. The research structure of multiple tellings—a first telling as a re-membering conversation, a second telling as a poem, a third telling as a reflective conversation—intensified the evocative metaphors of re-membering within participants’ talk, increasing the resonance with the loved one. 

Finally, in the philosophical fold, the work of the poems for re-membering is viewed through Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of lines of flight. This philosophical lens reflexively highlights my work as a poet-therapist in re-creating the lines of movement towards the loved one, as seen in both the individual poems and the folios.

This study found that the rescued speech and dialogical poems—as thera-poetic actions within broader dialogical processes—work through resonance. The poems sharpened the re-membering stories, honing them. In reading the poemed stories, the bereaved participant experienced the loved one as being illuminated again. Resonance occurred not only between the bereaved participant and the loved one, but between the participant and their extended family and friends who read the poems, the participant and myself as researcher, and the participant and their prior selves. The poetry strongly enhanced the work of re-membering practices by multiplying the impact of a re-membering conversation so that it rippled out in wider circles. 

In the field of narrative therapy, this thesis makes a contribution by robustly conceptualising rescued speech poetry and demonstrating its effectiveness through the inclusion of participant responses. This thesis promotes the literary within rescued speech poetry, and seeks to inspire other practitioners in their creative practices of therapy.

text: Conversations about absence and presence: Re-membering a loved partner in poetic form A key concern for therapists is how therapeutic change occurs, and what particular elements of therapy lead towards change. This project investigated how one approach in narrative therapy—rescued speech poetry—might enhance another therapeutic approach, re-membering conversations. Re-membering conversations nurture connections between a bereaved person and a loved person who has died. These conversations actively weave the stories of the lost loved one back into the life of the bereaved person, so that the loved one’s values and legacies continue to resound. This research explored how a literary approach—rescued speech poetry—potentially enhanced the nearness and contribution of a loved one, through capturing stories in a poetic form.

The study engaged eight participants, all of whom had lost a spouse or partner to death at least two years prior to their participation. Participants were invited into two counselling-like, research-focused conversations. The first conversation was a re-membering conversation which explored the ongoing contribution of the lost loved partner. Then, for each participant, I composed a folio of rescued speech and dialogical poems from their speaking, which they received in the post. In a second research conversation, I invited each participant to reflect on the effect of the poems in enhancing their re-membering. The poems produced for this research project, the Story bridges collection, appear in the preface in the electronic version of this thesis, and as a separate booklet in the bound version. 

The results chapters are presented in three distinct folds of six paired chapters. In a textual fold, the therapeutic and literary actions embedded in the poems are unfolded to gain a sense of how the poems sought to create effects. A case is made for the inclusion of a form of dialogical poetry alongside rescued speech poetry. In this dialogical poetry, the therapist’s responses to a participant’s re-membering story are intentionally interleaved with the story itself. 

In a dialogical fold, participant responses to the poetry folios—both the rescued speech and dialogical poems—are composed as poetic re-presentation. This approach displays participants’ responses to the folios, focusing on both the outcome of the therapy poems and the processes by which they created their effects. The participants reported that the poetry folios increased the resonance of the loved one in their lives. This resonance was produced not only by the poems as individual actors, but also through the particular processes of the research engagement. The research structure of multiple tellings—a first telling as a re-membering conversation, a second telling as a poem, a third telling as a reflective conversation—intensified the evocative metaphors of re-membering within participants’ talk, increasing the resonance with the loved one. 

Finally, in the philosophical fold, the work of the poems for re-membering is viewed through Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of lines of flight. This philosophical lens reflexively highlights my work as a poet-therapist in re-creating the lines of movement towards the loved one, as seen in both the individual poems and the folios.

This study found that the rescued speech and dialogical poems—as thera-poetic actions within broader dialogical processes—work through resonance. The poems sharpened the re-membering stories, honing them. In reading the poemed stories, the bereaved participant experienced the loved one as being illuminated again. Resonance occurred not only between the bereaved participant and the loved one, but between the participant and their extended family and friends who read the poems, the participant and myself as researcher, and the participant and their prior selves. The poetry strongly enhanced the work of re-membering practices by multiplying the impact of a re-membering conversation so that it rippled out in wider circles. 

In the field of narrative therapy, this thesis makes a contribution by robustly conceptualising rescued speech poetry and demonstrating its effectiveness through the inclusion of participant responses. This thesis promotes the literary within rescued speech poetry, and seeks to inspire other practitioners in their creative practices of therapy.

year: 2018

title: Recent studies of sediment capping and flocculation for nutrient stabilisation

authors: Özkundakci, Deniz

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Water quality in the Rotorua Lakes has declined in the past 30 to 40 years due to increasing nutrient loads, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. In situ restoration techniques, including sediment capping and flocculation, have been developed to attempt to reduce internal nutrient loads, which can be comparable in magnitude to external loads in eutrophic lakes. The aim of this report is to summarise the current state of knowledge, and to documents some recent studies of sediment capping and flocculation techniques designed to remove nutrients from the water column by retaining them permanently within the bottom sediments. Experimental set-ups for testing the efficacy of different materials range from conventional batch adsorption studies to sediment reactor experiments. Natural ecosystems have also been simulated with mesocosms in Lake Okaro. A full scale application of aluminium sulphate (alum) in Lake Okar. A full scale application of aluminium sulphate (alum) in Lake Okaro has also been intensively monitored. The different studies have provided information on the restoration potential of some sediment capping agents and flocculants, but many questions still remain. Given the current state of knowledge it is not possible to confirm a priori the circumstances under which a whole lake trial would be successful. Future research should be carried out on the follow foci:
•	Establishment of chronic or acute toxic effects of the adsorbent materials.
•	Effect of treatment applications on benthic biota, particularly capping materials that may alter physical characteristics of the sediments.
•	Application of computer models for the purpose of both hindcasting and better understanding effects of application of an adsorbent to a lake, and for the purpose of predicting the changes in trophic status.
•	Application techniques and costs, particularly in view of potential for quite radical changes in source of adsorbent materials, grain sizes and methods of application for a single adsorbent.

text: Recent studies of sediment capping and flocculation for nutrient stabilisation Water quality in the Rotorua Lakes has declined in the past 30 to 40 years due to increasing nutrient loads, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. In situ restoration techniques, including sediment capping and flocculation, have been developed to attempt to reduce internal nutrient loads, which can be comparable in magnitude to external loads in eutrophic lakes. The aim of this report is to summarise the current state of knowledge, and to documents some recent studies of sediment capping and flocculation techniques designed to remove nutrients from the water column by retaining them permanently within the bottom sediments. Experimental set-ups for testing the efficacy of different materials range from conventional batch adsorption studies to sediment reactor experiments. Natural ecosystems have also been simulated with mesocosms in Lake Okaro. A full scale application of aluminium sulphate (alum) in Lake Okar. A full scale application of aluminium sulphate (alum) in Lake Okaro has also been intensively monitored. The different studies have provided information on the restoration potential of some sediment capping agents and flocculants, but many questions still remain. Given the current state of knowledge it is not possible to confirm a priori the circumstances under which a whole lake trial would be successful. Future research should be carried out on the follow foci:
•	Establishment of chronic or acute toxic effects of the adsorbent materials.
•	Effect of treatment applications on benthic biota, particularly capping materials that may alter physical characteristics of the sediments.
•	Application of computer models for the purpose of both hindcasting and better understanding effects of application of an adsorbent to a lake, and for the purpose of predicting the changes in trophic status.
•	Application techniques and costs, particularly in view of potential for quite radical changes in source of adsorbent materials, grain sizes and methods of application for a single adsorbent.

year: 2006

title: Challenges to legal education: The Waikato Law School experience

authors: Wilson, Margaret

subjects: legal education

abstract: The experiences of the Waikato Law School especially from the viewpoint of challenges to legal education are discussed. The impact of the performance-based model of funding on the delivery of legal education at the Waikato Law School is highlighted.

text: Challenges to legal education: The Waikato Law School experience The experiences of the Waikato Law School especially from the viewpoint of challenges to legal education are discussed. The impact of the performance-based model of funding on the delivery of legal education at the Waikato Law School is highlighted.

year: 2010