"Home, home bittersweet home": an exploration of the experience of voluntary migration

This research explored the lived experience of voluntary migration employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings suggest home exists as an evershaping multifaceted matrix of emotions, interactions, experiences and environments. Notions of belonging and identity emerged as fluid and flexible – morphing through shifting contexts and changing situations. The journey of migration is often perceived as a transitional experience through which loss and disorientation give way to gradual adaptation, accomplishment and self-actualisation – revealing its non-pathological nature. A variety of approaches and perspectives are reviewed, embracing contradictions and similarities alike to reflect a notion inherent to the phenomenon of migration – diversity.

Publication Date: 
2016
Pages: 
53-58
Volume: 
1
Issue: 
1
Journal Name: 
Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology Reflections
Location: 
London, England, United Kingdom