Trauma-informed user research methods drawn from the author’s clinical experience provide strategies for ethically negotiating consent, redirecting trauma narratives, and ensuring participant and researcher well-being.
Ayhan Alman
After a two-year research hiatus during the pandemic, when Ayhan Alman served as a psychotherapist in Spain, he returned to find the landscape of the research profession significantly altered by the collective trauma of the pandemic. In 2022, Alman encountered the term "trauma-informed research" for the first time, which echoed persistently in community meetings and beyond. As a researcher who also happens to be a clinician with specialization in trauma, Alman learned a crucial lesson: Intuition and common sense alone are insufficient when dealing with trauma. A deep understanding of trauma is imperative to navigate this complex field. Alman holds an MSc in Gestalt Psychotherapy from Middlesex University, with further training in contemporary trauma practice and EMDR. He is also the co-editor and co-author of Queering Gestalt Therapy: An Anthology on Gender, Sex & Relationship Diversity in Psychotherapy, published by Routledge in March 2023.
1 article published