Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

Containment-freedom  
It seems possible that chaos is the client 
and salvation is the counsellor. If so then
perhaps the space between where the 
client is caught (as in held) is the 
enabling space within which she can 
play / work. (Bion1962) Playing, she 
tips out the box - the contents of herself 
which are not usually seen, upon the 
counsellor /outside herself who is 
separate from her and unknown 
 
 
 
Initial Interpretations of extract 1a 
The containment-freedom category appears to be present in the enabling freedom that the 
participant feels as she tips herself out. She seems to feel safe in this secret space where she can 
play and work. The „secret self‟ suggests the split off aspects of herself so perhaps she hides 
from herself and the counsellor. Movement is felt in the words which hint at the creation of her 
internal world in the mix of „chaos‟ which feels internal, and the „tranquil place‟ that is so far 
away, „beyond the sky‟, and external (in the counsellor perhaps). The quality of emotional 

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movement expressed suggests the dynamic of containment-freedom. But as I repeatedly returned 
to the data this one interpretation became insufficient as I wondered what she was hiding. It was 
undertaken again to see if there was the possibility of there being more than one perception of 
the entry: 
Extract 1b. (Later Interpretation of extract 1a) 
Line Words from a Journal Analysis 
1. Caught between 
2. Chaos and salvation 
3. I tip out the box 
4. That is my secret self 
5. Upon that tranquil space 
6. Beyond the sky 
lines 1-2. Uncontained-unfree - a 
trapped place that prevents movement, 
on an axis that grounds the playful chaos 
of creativity and the very edge of the 
heart of darkness. 
line 3.Fighting containment-freedom 
an angry move -an emptying of self. 
line 4. Overcontained-overfree a place 
that holds her in “the box” of repetitive 
thoughts / actions 
line 5. Desire for containment-freedom 
she puts herself out of herself as if 
searching
line 6. Towards containment-freedom 
perhaps she moves towards enabling 
containment but can‟t quite define where 
she is - this place feels unknown, 
mystical, for it is not named.