Dr. Fevronia Christodoulidi

Biography

Dr Fevronia (Fenia) Christodoulidi completed her undergraduate studies at the School of Philosophy at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) and her Postgraduate Professional Counselling Training at the University of Durham (UK). She has also completed an MSc in Research Methods and a PhD in Counselling as a fully funded Scholar of the University of Manchester, UK. Her qualitative, heuristic doctoral study focused on the challenges and opportunities occurring for therapists moving between cultures; topics explored were touching upon the dimensions of personal and professional identity perceptions resulting from such professional migration, their sense of home and belonging, issues related to repatriation and professional mobility, issues around practitioners' bilingualism and biculturalism, the therapeutic relationship dynamics in multicultural counselling and so on. Fenia joined the BSc (Hons) Counselling team at UEL in 2013 where she is lecturing as well as preparing future counsellors through the roles of skills tutor, personal tutor, clinical and academic supervisor and personal development group facilitator. Before lecturing at UEL, she has taught counselling at FE colleges as well as at UG and PG level at the University of Salford and The Metanoia Institute. She has collaborated with Prof. Maria Malikiosi-Loizos for the set-up of an MA in Counselling Psychology and Counselling at the University of Athens, where she has worked as External Clinical Supervisor and Examiner. She has a keen interest in the dialogue & research around designing culturally sensitive models for the provision of counselling & psychotherapy training and practice in countries, where it is considered a developing discipline. Fenia gained her BACP practitioner accreditation as Counsellor/Psychotherapist in 2005 and has extended practitioner experience in a variety of settings, such as student and staff counselling in FE and HE, staff counselling in the NHS, offering counselling for refugees and asylum seekers, offering play therapy to children and young people, working with women experiencing eating distress, offering group-work to specific client groups as well as working in the charity sector. She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Supervision and has been offering individual and group supervision, the latter being one of her roles when training Level 6 counselling students at UEL. Fenia is a voracious reader and passionate about innovative developments within counselling and psychotherapy thinking, through the integration of different approaches under a pluralistic framework. She is involved in groups discussing such issues and has contributed in the field through presenting at local as well as international conferences and reviewing numerous books for academic journals.

Research Interest

I believe that counselling & psychotherapy research informs a practitioner's work with clients in enriching and creative ways. My research so far has focused on several areas, with special focus on the following: - Race, Migration and Postmodern Identities - Cross-cultural counselling and the use of second language in therapy - Enhancing multicultural competence in counselling training programmes & multicultural organisations - The role and interplay of spirituality and culture in counselling, psychotherapy, education and pastoral care - Existential Counselling & the use of philosophy in therapy - The experience of being a foreign/migrant practitioner or an international student - The use of expressive media, metaphor and art as agents in learning, counselling practice and supervision - Qualitative Research Methodologies (special interest in Auto-ethnography, Heuristic Research & IPA)