Congratulations to student member Mia Zielinska, winner of this year’s PCCS Books Student Award for her research project The Talking Booth: An invitation to get personal in public.
Mia received her award from our Chair Andrew Reeves at the BACP Research Conference in Belfast. She is shortly to complete her diploma in counselling at the University of Edinburgh, where she aims to go on to pursue a PhD in Counselling Studies.
The Talking Booth was modelled on the Peanuts cartoon character Lucy’s psychiatric booth.
It offered a casual talking space in the university’s main library, staffed by postgraduate counselling and psychotherapy students, where fellow students and university staff could visit and talk for up to 15 minutes. Mia’s research set out to explore whether ‘casual chat’ is a viable means of community mental health self-support and, if so, would professional therapists and counsellors support it?
Katie Moffat, marketing director at PCCS Books, said: "We felt that this project was timely, in that it directly addressed a widely recognised need among students for some form of emotional and mental health support and potentially provided a bridge between friends and formal counselling."
Mia said: "I felt honoured and totally chuffed to be given this award. I’m really pleased to accept it on behalf of everyone who participated in the project, and especially my colleagues who helped staff the booth."
Find out more about our research awards https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/advancing-the-profession/research/awards/