presentations

Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies (PPS) Student Research Conference
May 22–23, 2025

Finding the right methodology to fit your research topic can be challenging enough. But what do you do when you’ve found the perfect methodology — and there are no trainings, no mentors available to help you apply it successfully? In this informal exploration, I will share how I apprenticed myself to my ‘spectral’ mentor, Max van Manen, who advocates a phenomenal (applied) approach to Hermeneutic Phenomenology. Translating my experiences into a series of accessible steps, I will invite listeners to consider ways in which they might apply my ‘ghostly’ blueprint to their own research. In this way, my own journey may serve as a useful tool for helping listeners develop a practical, personalized path to move from uncertain to confident in their own research methodologies. My presentation will cover topics including: the value of research methodologies, finding the right spectral mentor, using one’s own life experience to support learning, and working with a research journal. Further, this presentation offers an opportunity to engage methodology not only as a scholarly requirement, but as a life practice. Attendees will be invited to download a short booklet which will include my presentation slides, as well as some suggested activities for developing their own research journal practice. ⎋  conference website

Crossroads of Literary Creation:
Fact, Fiction, and Everything In-between
A Transdisciplinary Conference
Feb 5–6, 2025

This hybrid creative-academic presentation celebrates a North American childhood favorite, Jon Stone’s The Monster at the End of this Book. In this kid-friendly first exposure to metafiction, Sesame Street’s ‘lovable, furry old Grover’ happens to read the cover of his own book ... and discovers there is a monster at the end of the tale! In our time together, I will begin with an appreciative reading of Stone’s short story. Then, with Grover’s plight fresh in our minds, I will shift to a brief analysis of how his narrative operates as metafiction. We will then spend some time “playing” with the bigger questions around metafiction and the deeper meaning of the ‘fourth wall.’ Finally, we will examine a few metafictions in Jungian thought. Come to this light-spirited presentation prepared to laugh and to wonder, as Grover’s story opens a door on some remarkable possibilities. ⎋  conference website

2023 Jungian Society for Scholary Studies Conference
Jung and the Numinous: Art, Science and Psyche
July 27–30, 2023

Speaking as a novelist and a Jungian, Faith will share her experiences with writer’s block in light of complex theory, reflecting on the numinous power of writing in-complex, and the darkness that remains when complexes depart. Might the tending of our complexes be the most important creative practice of all? ⎋  conference website

6th “Trauma and Nightmare” International Interdisciplinary Conference
March 16–17, 2023

Protagonist Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane ... but only because his 47 hallucinatory ‘aspects’ carry his madness. And when Leeds’ intrapsychic control slips, his subpersonalities turn into nightmares. Leeds’ story is the focus of this presentation, an examination of Brandon Sanderson’s Legion trilogy through the lens of complex psychology. Here, we will consider Sanderson’s compelling portrait of a fictional disorder blending elements of both schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (DID). This fantasied model of the pluralistic psyche raises important questions about dissociation, loss, and, finally, the power of the imagination to help us cope and heal. ⇥  related article
⎋  conference website

3rd Memory, Trauma & Recovery Conference
September 22–23, 2022

Many in the West will recall Mel Stuart’s 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — but how many remember it fondly? Frequently (and justifiably) labeled as ‘nightmare fuel,’ I suggest that this childhood fantasy serves as an allegory for the mind of the traumatized child. That, in fact, the action of the movie depicts a wounded boy and his psyche’s attempts to safeguard him from future pain, embracing psychological strategies including dissociation and complex formation. This presentation will consider viewers’ memories of the film, its form as a fantastical trauma narrative, and the way the tale vividly depicts the inner life of the wounded child in us all. ⇥  related academic paper
⎋  conference website