Giving voice, or taking it away?: the therapeutic limits of research

In this paper, I reflect on research work undertaken for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute funded project, 'Understanding iterative homelessness: The case of people with mental disorders' (for the full series of reports see www.ahuri.edu.au). In effect, the purpose of the research was to 'give voice' to homeless people with mental disorders by documenting their experiences and working to better understand and respond to these experiences. As I discuss, however, the 'noble' project of 'giving voice' to such a marginalised group can be deeply damaged if appropriate mechanisms are not developed for engaging with the messages these voices convey in the first place.