Current research projects

The Centre undertakes research projects as part of our commitment to enriching the field of systemic constellations and our own practice. The Centre currently supports:

The Alcohol & Substance Misuse Treatment Project
Project Coordinator: Chris Williams
Contact Chris

If you have a particular interest in this area, and would like to find out more, please contact the project coordinator named above.

The Alcohol & Substance Misuse Treatment Project

We have begun a research project at the Centre which will explore how a systemic approach can enhance and support treatment programmes for drug and alcohol misuse and dependency. Drug and alcohol misuse problems are embedded in our society. They are both the cause, and a consequence, of individual, family, group and community difficulties. The fall-out can be felt by all in some way.

Considerable resources have been put into treatment programmes for people to tackle their particular form of misuse, with significant success for many, while others return to chaotic use. Statistics show that over half of people drop-out of their programme. Our aim is to investigate the hidden, systemic forces that prevent people from completing programmes, and develop interventions that will help people to stay with them.

The research project will explore at a practical level an approach that enables all participants in substance misuse treatment work - users, treatment workers, managers and even policy makers - to look at the bigger picture. They will be invited to see themselves and their issues in the context of the systems or "conscience-groups" they belong to - their families, peer groups, communities, etc. This approach will offer each person more space to understand the influences and forces that are helping shape their behaviours and the meaning they make of their life, and provide the opportunity to take effective action, in particular a shift in "conscience" and perspective.