An autoethnographic exploration of a lone-mother trainee systemic therapist

Abstract

In the UK, in 2019, there were 2.9 million lone-parent families, a family with children that is headed by one parent; ~90% of lone-parents are mothers. I am one of them. Using a social constructionist approach, I look inward at my self and back outward at social-cultural context in response to my observations, within systemic practice and training, of possible privileging of a dominant social discourse of family—a father, a mother and children—that positions lone-mothers as other. My experiences in vignettes, my data, are analysed using a daisy model. Emergent salient themes are discussed. The findings hopefully prompt an elicitation of responses and resonances that will act as impetus for necessary future dialogue within systemic practice and inquiry.