九州影院 (UC) Associate Professor Eileen Britt has received the 鈥楶rogressing educational partnerships and collaboration鈥 prize in Te Whatu Kairangi 鈥 Aotearoa Tertiary Educator Awards 2022.
Her expertise in Motivational Interviewing (MI), 36 years as a registered clinical psychologist and dedication to biculturally-responsive learning make her an exemplary teacher.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
鈥淚 have been interested in psychology since adolescence,鈥 Associate Professor Britt says. 鈥淚 come from a large extended family and witnessed the inevitable struggles that can arise due to the disparities of ethnicity, education, disability, and income. I came to clinical psychology because I was interested in others鈥 stories and in their wellbeing, and I was interested in working with evidence-based approaches to empower others to foster their own wellbeing. Bering situated at the nexus of 鈥榗aring鈥 and 鈥榮cience鈥, clinical psychology was a good fit for me.鈥
After 15 years of clinical psychology practice, Associate Professor Britt was drawn to teaching at UC, initially as a Clinical Educator, with UC鈥檚 Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology programme. Responding to inequality was important to her from the beginning.
鈥淎s a clinician who had witnessed the disparate mental health outcomes between M膩ori and P膩keh膩, I felt it was important to redress this within the psychology department, and the clinical programme in particular. If we were training clinical psychologists to work in a bicultural country and if we were to attract M膩ori trainees, I believed we needed to include a greater bicultural component, and I hoped that I might be able to facilitate this change.鈥
A M膩ori student said in student feedback, 鈥淚 also found she would incorporate M膩ori customs and values into the work which was tremendously helpful for me鈥.
Motivational Interviewing has informed Associate Professor Britt鈥檚 practice, research and teaching, she says. As a trainer of MI, 鈥淚 had experienced the power of creating collaborative partnerships with learners, fostering an environment in which each learner is valued for the knowledge and experiences they come with, and which allows learners to be active partners in their own learning. I found this an enormously satisfying experience, and still do.鈥
To explore whether MI could also be useful in helping unemployed people in Aotearoa New Zealand, Associate Professor Britt collaborated with Work and Income New 九州影院(WINZ), where she trained some of their staff who were working with long-term unemployed clients and evaluated the results.
鈥淭he study was shortened by Covid-19, but in short, the WINZ staff conversations with their clients changed from an expert-driven question and answer style conversation to one in which there was greater partnership and empathic listening demonstrated by the WINZ staff and greater talk about change from their clients.鈥
Similar results happened when Associate Professor Britt partnered with UC鈥檚 Faculty of Engineering. 鈥淚 provided MI training and ongoing coaching for engineering academics and support staff to build their skills. This enabled the staff to change their style of conversation to have more collaborative conversations with students so that students could share their perspective, feel heard and understood, and find their own solutions, consistent with universities being places for learning and self-discovery.鈥
Te Whatu Kairangi, the Aotearoa Tertiary Educator awards celebrate outstanding tertiary educators who are making a difference to learners, their wh膩nau and communities.
Associate Professor Britt was 鈥渟urprised and delighted鈥 to win the prestigious national award.
It is lovely to receive this recognition, especially as the award is in the educational partnership and collaboration category. For me the whakatauk墨 鈥榚hara t膩ku toa i te toa takatahi, engari he toa takatini鈥, which refers to the collective effort necessary for success, really resonates with me.
