ABSTRACT
Therapists are by nature interested in stories. Through the pain and struggle of their own lives, they come to understand and trust the value of the stories they hear from their clients, whether revealed through words, actions, or the arts. Therefore, counsellors and psychotherapists often unknowingly begin their careers as researchers in personal therapy, in collaboration with their therapists. Formal, qualitative research is not so different from what we do as therapists within the confines of the therapy room. The nature of more formal, qualitative research is also collaborative, working with participants in their search for the truth and meaning of personal experience. Research need not be conducted simply in order to prove something, but rather that we might better understand something. This chapter will focus on research as an attempt to broaden understanding and give meaning to our own experience through collaboration with others, whether through our work as clinicians or through the more formal avenues of academic inquiry.
