Simona Merlusca

I am a social worker in the UK, and have been completing a full-time doctorate degree at Salford University since 2020. I am currently in the final stage of this journey, nearing completion. I have a BA in Social Work and Religious Studies, a BSc in Law, and a MA in Dynamics of Domestic Violence. I am currently a lecturer in Social Work, in an integrated Learning Disabilities and Nursing team.

Throughout my career, I have been working with adults, children, and young people suffering from trauma, who presented support needs in different forms. I am currently in the process of disseminating the findings of my research at conferences, with journal articles being drafted, and in the process of publication.

My research centres around these core areas:

Participatory methods. I have been exploring the lived experiences of people who self-identified as having experienced codependency via semi-structured interviews, the meaning they provided and constructed about the phenomenon, and the experiences of ‘sense of self’ within the codependency context.

Therapeutic landscapes. I am also interested in the links between codependency, the experiences of sense of self in the codependency context, and the importance and meaning of modalities people have used in their healing journey from codependency, including spirituality.

My methodology is situated within hermeneutic phenomenological research; an exploration of interpretations and meanings of lived experience, and embodied ways of knowing.

The findings of my research have been accepted to be presented, in a poster form, at the 35th Annual Boston International Trauma Conference (see above). Please contact me for a complete reference list, and further details.