This research considers how mothers make sense of their experience of parenting a young person with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. It considers the impact of their interactions with practitioners who support their child, individual psychological experiences, in the form of the unconscious, and what influences these have on subjectivity. I consider how findings from parent narratives can be used to inform practice for educational psychologists and other practitioners working with parents.
A narrative methodology, adopting feminist principles, which privilege the voice of mothers in the research process was applied. The research engages in an exploration of mothers’ experience and considers the influences of social narratives around neurocultural and individualising psychological discourses that impact upon relationships between practitioners and mothers. I adopt a critical realist perspective and use Lacanian Psychoanalytic concepts to bring together psychological and social factors that influence experience.
The analysis highlights the influence of dominant discourse on how mothers make sense of themselves and their experiences of interacting with practitioners. It reveals the possibility that mental health needs, such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders, may be understood in specific ways which do not apply to other conditions, such as attention deficit, included in the SEMH category of difficulty as outlined in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice (2015). Apparent commonalities and distinctions are highlighted as well as parent views on what they would find supportive when engaging with services and practitioners regarding their child’s needs.
Key words: Mothers, SEMH, subjectivity, psychoanalysis, narrative, psychosocial
