Lindsey Nicholls

Profile

I was born in Zimbabwe, did my first degree (OT) at University of Cape Town in South Africa (1978) and later did my MA (2000) at the Tavistock Clinic, London, UK in ‘Psychoanalytic Approaches to Working with Organisations’. This interest in using psychoanalytic thinking in OT led onto my PhD (2010) at Centre of Psycho-Social Studies at University West England, Bristol UK.

Research interests

I have an ongoing interest in psychoanalysis in relation to clinical work and research methodology, e.g. the use of free association narrative interview methods (FANI). I think of occupational therapy in two parts; therapy as a lived relationship which can emphasise the use of the therapist’s intersubjective knowledge - and occupations as potentially being used to defend people against inner anxiety. In other words I am interested in exploring when activities (doing) can act as a container (i.e. a place to think) or become an unhelpful (or manic) defence (i.e. a way of avoiding feelings/thinking or intimate/love relationships).

Research centres

• Centre for Professional Practice (CPPR)

Professional activities or recognition

• External Examiner, University Kingston, UK
• OPUS Conference Committee (2008 – ongoing)
• Associate Lecturer for Centre of Psycho-Social Studies, University West England, Bristol.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2011) Carolissen, R., Bozalek, V., Nicholls, L., Leibowitz, B., Rohleder, P. and Swartz, L., Bell hooks and the enactment of emotion in teaching and learning across boundaries: A pedagogy of hope?, South African Journal of Higher Education 25 (1) : 157- 167

(2011) Nicholls, LE., Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Rohleder, P. and Swartz, L., Learning together: Lessons from a collaborative curriculum design project, Across the Disciplines 8 (3)

(2010) Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Nicholls, L., Rohleder, P. and Swartz, L., Bringing the social into pedagogy: Unsafe learning in an uncertain world, Teaching in Higher Education 2 123- 133

(2009) Swartz, L., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B. and Nicholls, L., 'Your mind is the battlefield': South African trainee health workers engage with the past, Social Work Education 28 (5) : 488- 501

(2008) Nicholls, L., 'Touching the void'. Mountains as transitional objects, climbing as a defence against anxiety, Psychodynamic Practice: individuals, groups and organisations 14 (3) : 249- 262

Book Chapters

(2009) Nicholls, LE., Seeing ↔ believing, dreaming ↔ thinking: some methodological mapping of view points. In: Hoggett, P. and Clarke, S. eds. Researching Beneath the Surface: Psycho-Social Research Methods in Practice. London : Karnac Books 169- 192