Processing biculturalism

Abstract

This article reflects upon the author’s exploration of her process as an overseas trained psychotherapist who was born in Aotearoa New Zealand and has returned after many years away. The author reflects upon her recent encounters with the cultural history of Aotearoa New Zealand as she returns to this country and commences her clinical practice here. Woven throughout the author’s writing is her processing of her cultural learning experiences, and the implications this might have for her clinical work. In doing so the author draws on historians such as Anne Salmond, and psychotherapeutic theorists such as Jung, Winnicott, and Klein.