Emma Tseris
Biographic Data
| ID | 6025310 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Emma Tseris |
| GIVEN NAMES | Emma |
| FAMILY NAME | Tseris |
| SIGNATURE | TSERIS E |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5704-4598 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Mental health and biomedical neoliberalism
In this article, we introduce a creative assessment task developed for postgraduate social work students studying critical perspectives on mental health.We discuss how moving beyond the constraints of text-based assignments generates space for students to explore new ways of thinking about mental health, beyond the limitations of dominant illness-based understandings.Through creativity, the task enables an exploration of social justice in practic…
Gender and Sexuality in Childhood Emotional Abuse
This article reports on a research project that aimed to generate new knowledge about the social dimensions of childhood emotional abuse. The driving research question for the overarching study asked how social context shapes and structures childhood emotional abuse, with the two sub-questions specifically relevant to this paper asking how the severity of childhood emotional abuse might vary according to the gender and sexual identity of victim-s…
Being heard and being seen
Precarious Epistemic Justice
Epistemic justice in therapy is precarious with children's voices easily marginalised. Discursive therapies (narrative, collaborative, and solution-focused therapies) aim to incorporate a power analysis, in contrast to focusing on children's so-called “problematic behaviours.” This study offers a critical discourse analysis of discursive therapy interactions with a 9-year-old child, Isla, and her female caregiver. The findings show micropolitics …
Not just a new house”
While scholarship regarding the promises and challenges of deinstitutionalisation is expansive, less is known about deinstitutionalisation within the context of contemporary neoliberal disability policy frameworks. This article reports on a study exploring recent transitions from institutional to community living within the context of the highly contested National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. The perspectives of family members…
From rhetoric to action
Is being ‘culturally competent’ a sufficient response by social work to racialised oppressions and injustices, particularly in the context of Black Lives Matter? The social work profession has acknowledged the problem of racism within Australian society. Nevertheless, decades of scholarship has demonstrated social work’s ongoing involvement in policy and practice frameworks that reinforce and contribute to racialised oppressions. This article cri…
Beyond binaries
In this article, we discuss our experiences on a project that is exploring gendered harms experienced by women during involuntary mental health treatment. We outline our journey towards a more complex understanding of our roles in the project, by considering the aspects of our identities that are hidden when situating ourselves only in terms of survivor or non-survivor researchers. In addition, we discuss expectations that are often present in re…
My Voice Was Discounted the Whole Way Through”
Although it is well established that women experience significant gendered oppressions when accessing mental health services, research exploring the impacts of involuntary mental health services is frequently conducted without attending specifically to gender. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored women's experiences of compulsory mental health treatment in Australia. In-depth interviews revealed substantial gendered harms exp…
The Expansion of the Peer Adviser Workforce
Peer adviser roles are becoming an increasingly common—and celebrated—aspect of agencies where social workers are located. This article reports on a qualitative research study exploring the experiences of staff within a homelessness outreach service in which three peer advisers (people with a lived experience of homelessness) commenced employment. Drawing on action research principles, the study explored the experiences of the peer advisers and t…
Social Work and Women’s Mental Health
Trauma theory has been positioned as a helpful framework for social workers to utilise when working with women presenting to mental health services. In particular, the trauma concept has been praised for its ability to acknowledge the social and relational determinants of women’s mental health presentations and to challenge the dominance of a biomedical framework for understanding emotional distress. On the other hand, trauma approaches have been…
A feminist critique of trauma therapy
Drawing on critical feminist scholarship, this chapter presents a different approach to discussing the influence of trauma therapy, offering instead an examination of the socio-cultural conditions that may sit behind trauma therapy&s;s immense rise in popularity within psychiatric contexts. It argues that trauma therapy has gained traction within mental health services not because of a sudden interest within psychiatry in feminist activism, but r…
Biomedicine, neoliberalism and the pharmaceuticalisation of society
In the Global North, the twenty-first century could be deemed an age of the &s;pharmaceutical imagination&s;, constituted by two parallel processes: an increasingly rigid and narrow definition of &s;healthy&s; or &s;normal&s; human experience; and a growing reliance on the use of pharmaceutical products to attempt to reach a state of perceived health or normality. This chapter discusses the connection between the success of the biomedical paradig…
Locating, understanding and celebrating disability
The assumption of universal human developmental tasks is central to Erikson’s influential Eight Stages of Man . While grand developmental theories have been strongly critiqued from a feminist perspective, it is necessary for feminists to also consider the implications of Erikson’s theory from a critical disability perspective. Applications of Erikson’s theory have claimed that disabled people experience stagnated development because they are unab…
VI. Trauma and women’s rights … According to whom? Decolonizing the psychological trauma narrative
Trauma Theory Without Feminism? Evaluating Contemporary Understandings of Traumatized Women
In this article, I critically examine contemporary notions of trauma and how they have informed mental health interventions for women. The feminist underpinnings of trauma therapy invite practitioners to understand women’s mental health “symptoms” within the context of such experiences as child abuse and sexual violence that disproportionately affect women. However, this article poses the question: Has trauma theory caused paradigmatic shifts in …
Trauma Theory Without Feminism? Evaluating Contemporary Understandings of Traumatized Women
In this article, I critically examine contemporary notions of trauma and how they have informed mental health interventions for women. The feminist underpinnings of trauma therapy invite practitioners to understand women’s mental health “symptoms” within the context of such experiences as child abuse and sexual violence that disproportionately affect women. However, this article poses the question: Has trauma theory caused paradigmatic shifts in …
The Expansion of the Peer Adviser Workforce
Peer adviser roles are becoming an increasingly common—and celebrated—aspect of agencies where social workers are located. This article reports on a qualitative research study exploring the experiences of staff within a homelessness outreach service in which three peer advisers (people with a lived experience of homelessness) commenced employment. Drawing on action research principles, the study explored the experiences of the peer advisers and t…
Social Work and Women’s Mental Health
Trauma theory has been positioned as a helpful framework for social workers to utilise when working with women presenting to mental health services. In particular, the trauma concept has been praised for its ability to acknowledge the social and relational determinants of women’s mental health presentations and to challenge the dominance of a biomedical framework for understanding emotional distress. On the other hand, trauma approaches have been…
Beyond binaries
In this article, we discuss our experiences on a project that is exploring gendered harms experienced by women during involuntary mental health treatment. We outline our journey towards a more complex understanding of our roles in the project, by considering the aspects of our identities that are hidden when situating ourselves only in terms of survivor or non-survivor researchers. In addition, we discuss expectations that are often present in re…
Locating, understanding and celebrating disability
The assumption of universal human developmental tasks is central to Erikson’s influential Eight Stages of Man . While grand developmental theories have been strongly critiqued from a feminist perspective, it is necessary for feminists to also consider the implications of Erikson’s theory from a critical disability perspective. Applications of Erikson’s theory have claimed that disabled people experience stagnated development because they are unab…
Not just a new house”
While scholarship regarding the promises and challenges of deinstitutionalisation is expansive, less is known about deinstitutionalisation within the context of contemporary neoliberal disability policy frameworks. This article reports on a study exploring recent transitions from institutional to community living within the context of the highly contested National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. The perspectives of family members…
From rhetoric to action
Is being ‘culturally competent’ a sufficient response by social work to racialised oppressions and injustices, particularly in the context of Black Lives Matter? The social work profession has acknowledged the problem of racism within Australian society. Nevertheless, decades of scholarship has demonstrated social work’s ongoing involvement in policy and practice frameworks that reinforce and contribute to racialised oppressions. This article cri…
My Voice Was Discounted the Whole Way Through”
Although it is well established that women experience significant gendered oppressions when accessing mental health services, research exploring the impacts of involuntary mental health services is frequently conducted without attending specifically to gender. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored women's experiences of compulsory mental health treatment in Australia. In-depth interviews revealed substantial gendered harms exp…
Trauma Theory Without Feminism? Evaluating Contemporary Understandings of Traumatized Women
In this article, I critically examine contemporary notions of trauma and how they have informed mental health interventions for women. The feminist underpinnings of trauma therapy invite practitioners to understand women’s mental health “symptoms” within the context of such experiences as child abuse and sexual violence that disproportionately affect women. However, this article poses the question: Has trauma theory caused paradigmatic shifts in …
VI. Trauma and women’s rights … According to whom? Decolonizing the psychological trauma narrative
A feminist critique of trauma therapy
Drawing on critical feminist scholarship, this chapter presents a different approach to discussing the influence of trauma therapy, offering instead an examination of the socio-cultural conditions that may sit behind trauma therapy&s;s immense rise in popularity within psychiatric contexts. It argues that trauma therapy has gained traction within mental health services not because of a sudden interest within psychiatry in feminist activism, but r…
Biomedicine, neoliberalism and the pharmaceuticalisation of society
In the Global North, the twenty-first century could be deemed an age of the &s;pharmaceutical imagination&s;, constituted by two parallel processes: an increasingly rigid and narrow definition of &s;healthy&s; or &s;normal&s; human experience; and a growing reliance on the use of pharmaceutical products to attempt to reach a state of perceived health or normality. This chapter discusses the connection between the success of the biomedical paradig…
Locating, understanding and celebrating disability
The assumption of universal human developmental tasks is central to Erikson’s influential Eight Stages of Man . While grand developmental theories have been strongly critiqued from a feminist perspective, it is necessary for feminists to also consider the implications of Erikson’s theory from a critical disability perspective. Applications of Erikson’s theory have claimed that disabled people experience stagnated development because they are unab…
The Expansion of the Peer Adviser Workforce
Peer adviser roles are becoming an increasingly common—and celebrated—aspect of agencies where social workers are located. This article reports on a qualitative research study exploring the experiences of staff within a homelessness outreach service in which three peer advisers (people with a lived experience of homelessness) commenced employment. Drawing on action research principles, the study explored the experiences of the peer advisers and t…
Social Work and Women’s Mental Health
Trauma theory has been positioned as a helpful framework for social workers to utilise when working with women presenting to mental health services. In particular, the trauma concept has been praised for its ability to acknowledge the social and relational determinants of women’s mental health presentations and to challenge the dominance of a biomedical framework for understanding emotional distress. On the other hand, trauma approaches have been…
From rhetoric to action
Is being ‘culturally competent’ a sufficient response by social work to racialised oppressions and injustices, particularly in the context of Black Lives Matter? The social work profession has acknowledged the problem of racism within Australian society. Nevertheless, decades of scholarship has demonstrated social work’s ongoing involvement in policy and practice frameworks that reinforce and contribute to racialised oppressions. This article cri…
Beyond binaries
In this article, we discuss our experiences on a project that is exploring gendered harms experienced by women during involuntary mental health treatment. We outline our journey towards a more complex understanding of our roles in the project, by considering the aspects of our identities that are hidden when situating ourselves only in terms of survivor or non-survivor researchers. In addition, we discuss expectations that are often present in re…
My Voice Was Discounted the Whole Way Through”
Although it is well established that women experience significant gendered oppressions when accessing mental health services, research exploring the impacts of involuntary mental health services is frequently conducted without attending specifically to gender. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored women's experiences of compulsory mental health treatment in Australia. In-depth interviews revealed substantial gendered harms exp…
Not just a new house”
While scholarship regarding the promises and challenges of deinstitutionalisation is expansive, less is known about deinstitutionalisation within the context of contemporary neoliberal disability policy frameworks. This article reports on a study exploring recent transitions from institutional to community living within the context of the highly contested National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. The perspectives of family members…
Being heard and being seen
Precarious Epistemic Justice
Epistemic justice in therapy is precarious with children's voices easily marginalised. Discursive therapies (narrative, collaborative, and solution-focused therapies) aim to incorporate a power analysis, in contrast to focusing on children's so-called “problematic behaviours.” This study offers a critical discourse analysis of discursive therapy interactions with a 9-year-old child, Isla, and her female caregiver. The findings show micropolitics …
Mental health and biomedical neoliberalism
In this article, we introduce a creative assessment task developed for postgraduate social work students studying critical perspectives on mental health.We discuss how moving beyond the constraints of text-based assignments generates space for students to explore new ways of thinking about mental health, beyond the limitations of dominant illness-based understandings.Through creativity, the task enables an exploration of social justice in practic…
Gender and Sexuality in Childhood Emotional Abuse
This article reports on a research project that aimed to generate new knowledge about the social dimensions of childhood emotional abuse. The driving research question for the overarching study asked how social context shapes and structures childhood emotional abuse, with the two sub-questions specifically relevant to this paper asking how the severity of childhood emotional abuse might vary according to the gender and sexual identity of victim-s…
Sociology (13 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Mental health (6 works) · Psychotherapist (6 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (4 works) · Context (archaeology (3 works) · Law (3 works)