Exploring the Experiences of Young People Described as Having Special Educational Needs Engaging in the Tree of Life: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Publication Date
December 12, 2025
Creator
Abstract
There is widespread concern for the wellbeing of children and young people (CYP) described as having special educational needs (SEN). This group experience a significant disparity in wellbeing outcomes, attributable to a range of social and emotional influences. There is a need for schools and educational psychologists (EPs) to promote the wellbeing of this group beyond clinical treatment, using proactive therapeutic approaches. One such approach is the Tree of Life, which encourages participants to collectively reauthor their life stories to illuminate preferred narratives of strength and richness. A systematic literature review explored participants’ experiences of the Tree of Life in existing papers and found it to be a positive and psychologically supportive experience. However, there is limited research which explores the experience of the Tree of Life for CYP described as having SEN. The current research aims to address this gap.
The Tree of Life was conducted with a group of 13–14-year-old young people (YP) described as having SEN in a mainstream secondary school. Four participants shared their experiences of engaging in the Tree of Life in semi-structured interviews, and their accounts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This resulted in the interpretation of Personal Experiential Themes (PETs) for each participant and six Group Experiential Themes (GETs) to represent the converging and diverging experiences of participants. These were: Nurturing Positive Emotional States, Navigating Discomfort, Fostering Connection and Togetherness, Expanding Thinking and New Insights, Exploring and Connecting with Identity, and A Space for Self-Expression. These findings offer novel insights into the experiences of YP described as having SEN and highlight variations in how participants experience the Tree of Life depending on their unique positionality. Implications for schools, EPs, and Tree of Life facilitators are discussed, and recommendations for future research utilising the Tree of Life are outlined.
Item Type
ethesis
Thesis Type
DAppEdPsy
Supervisors
Associated Schools / Departments
School of Psychology (UK)
eprints ID
81839
UoN Repository URI
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Emily Harris 14340455 Thesis.pdf
Type
Full-text
Description
Examined
Size
16.77 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6ac2f8ac664af874e6614275224fb56e