Vasiliki Chrysikou

Brockington Building
Department of Social Sciences 
Loughborough University 
Loughborough 
Leicestershire LE11 3TU 
England

Telephone:+44 (0)1509 223681

Fax:+44 (0)1509 223944

Email: v.chrysikou@lboro.ac.uk 

Nationality: Greek

Start Date: Oct 2007

Status: Full-tme

Academic Biography:

• Degree in Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 1998.
• MSc in Systemic Psychology (with Distinction), University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium, 2000.
• Certificate in Systemic Therapy with Families and Couples, Institute of Family Therapy and Birckbeck College, 2002.
• MSc in Family Therapy, King’s College London, 2005.
• MSc Social Research (with Distinction), Loughborough University, 2007.

Current Research:

My study entails the recording of routine therapy sessions, or of professionals’ conversations with each other about their work (i.e. pre or post session discussions). My aim is to investigate how therapy is done through a close investigation of the exact exchange of talk between therapists and their clients or their colleagues. More specifically the study aims to look into the conversational phenomena that constitute therapeutic practice, as well as the social actions performed in psychotherapeutic settings. The study could illuminate aspects of the relationship between therapy theories (as these are defined by therapists themselves) and the details of the interaction between therapists and their clients.

Research Interests:

Psychotherapy practices, Argumentation, Conversation Analysis, Discursive Psychology.

Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Supervisors: Professor Charles Antaki

Involvement in Department:

'Discourse and Rhetoric Group (DARG)'

Publications:

Chrysikou, V. (2008) “Examining the Construction of Clinical Case Studies in Systemic Family Therapy Practice”. Paper presented at the XVI World IFTA (International Family Therapy Association) Congress, Porto, Portugal, 26-29 March 2008.

Chrysikou, V. (2008) “Examining instances of argumentation in the course of an encounter
between a systemically-trained therapist and her client”. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Conference Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany, 9-11 October 2008.

Links:

Professional Activities:

From 1998 till now I have been practicing in the field of systemic family therapy in various statutory and non-statutory settings, both in Belgium and in Britain. My last job was at Sure Start, a governmental project for children under 5 and their families. Currently I have an honorary contract with an NHS Psychotherapy Service. I am also registered with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).