Dr Maria Xenaki
Senior Teaching Fellow
About
Biography
Maria Xenaki is a Senior Teaching Fellow and the Programme Director for the Advanced Practice in Psychological Wellbeing PGCert. She is a BPS Chartered and HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist. She obtained her Bsc in Psychology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She then completed her Practitioner Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic & Counselling Psychology (PsychD) at the University of Surrey. Maria has worked in a number of clinical settings in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Care services in Surrey and London.
Areas of specialism
Adult mental health; Anxiety disorders; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); Depression; Family intervention; Perinatal mental health; Psychosis
University roles and responsibilities
- Programme Leader for PGCert Advanced Practice in Psychological Wellbeing
My qualifications
PsychD in Psychotherapeutic & Counselling Psychology
University of Surrey
Publications
Xenaki Maria, Coyle A (2010) Grieving alone? Towards an understanding of the experience of bereaved single parents: An interpretative phenomenological analysis,Annals of the University of Alba Iulia ? History: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Dying and Death in 18th-21st Century Europe: Refiguring Death Rites in Europe2(Specia)pp. 573-595
Parental bereavement has attracted much attention within psychological literature and research and there seems to be a consensus that the death of a child can be one of life?s most devastating losses. What appears particularly surprising though is that, despite the fact that single parent families have become an increasingly prevalent family form in most industrialised countries; the experience of bereaved single parents has been largely overlooked as an explicit research focus. This study explores the experience of single parents following the death of a child. An ideographic case study design was adopted and in-depth interviews were conducted with two female participants. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Resultant themes highlighted distinctive aspects of single parents? life experiences that appear to impact upon their grief. The nature of the single parent-child relationship; positive and negative aspects of ?grieving alone?; and the potential implications of the lack of adequate support resources upon single parents? grief are presented in detail. Findings are considered in light of existing literature on single parenthood and parental bereavement. Implications for theory and psychotherapeutic practice are discussed and recommendations for future research aiming to enhance empirical knowledge in this field are made.
Xenaki Maria, Coyle A (2014) Grieving alone? Towards an understanding of the experience of bereaved single parents: An interpretative phenomenological analysis,In: Rotar M, Teodorescu A, Rotar C (eds.), Dying and Death in 18th-21st Century Europe: Volume 22ndpp. 396-423 Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Parental bereavement has attracted much attention within psychological literature and research and there seems to be a consensus that the death of a child can be one of life?s most devastating losses. What appears particularly surprising though is that, despite the fact that single parent families have become an increasingly prevalent family form in most industrialised countries, the experience of bereaved single parents has been largely overlooked as an explicit research focus. This study explores the experience of single parents following the death of a child. An ideographic case study design was adopted and in-depth interviews were conducted with two female participants. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Resultant themes highlighted distinctive aspects of single parents? life experiences that appear to impact upon their grief. The nature of the single parent-child relationship; positive and negative aspects of ?grieving alone?; and the potential implications of the lack of adequate support resources upon single parents? grief are presented in detail. Findings are considered in light of existing literature on single parenthood and parental bereavement. Implications for theory and psychotherapeutic practice are discussed and recommendations for future research aiming to enhance empirical knowledge in this field are made.