ABSTRACT
In a reflective conversation between Liz Rolls and Sue Wright, Chapter 6 draws on research-based interview narratives with a widow with young children and bereaved military parents to illuminate the ways that these mothers were able to negotiate, make sense of, and derive some meaning from their experience of loss. It reflects on inner resilience and outer support to consider how restoration of their ‘fracturing storylines’ – arising from bereavement in difficult and traumatic circumstances – can be enabled. In particular, it considers how the use of ‘oscillating time’ – linking past and future in the present, with parallels to the therapeutic encounter – contributed to making meaning of their experience. In considering the role of the researcher in qualitative research, as a potential agent of change with vulnerable groups, it draws attention to the potential of and the ethical challenges for the researcher to enhance the possibility of change, made more challenging when the researcher is also a counsellor.
