1. The Trailing Spouse:
Who are We?
Let’s Blog it Out!
The Eve ryd ay Exp at Support Cen ter wit h
Jes sica L. Sco tt-Reid
2. What’s with the term
“Trailing Spouse”?
“a person who follows his or her life partner to another city
because of a work assignment. . . often associated with people
involved in an expatriate assignment but is also used by
academia on domestic assignments”- Wikipedia
“Trailing” is not a bad word; it’s true!
Term is used in both academic and popular realms.
Is gender neutral.
3. Challenges unique to the
trailing spouse
Beyond the usual psychological and sociocultural issues faced
by expats due to acculturation, recent research has shown that
trailing spouses suffer unique challenges due to additional
changes in lifestyle:
Loss of employment.
Loss of community.
Loss of purpose.
Loss of identity.
For more information see: “Adaptation of Trailing Spouses: Does Gender
Matter?” by Anne. M Braseby, 2010.
4. How can writing help?
The Basics
Writing can be done by anyone, anywhere, with basic writing skills, minimal tools, and for
minimal cost.
Writing “holds thoughts still”, allowing reason to play alongside emotion, bringing
structure and organization to chaos.
Writing the Mind Alive, the Proprioceptive Method for Finding your Authentic Voice, by L. T. Metcalf
and T. Simon
Writing can provide proven physical health benefits, such as reduced blood pressure and
muscle tension.
“Investigators have now found that writing about traumatic experiences produces
improvements in immune functions, drops in physician visits for illness, and better
performance at school and work”.
Emotion, Disclosure, and Health, by J. W. Pennebaker
5. Blogging Defined
Online web logs.
Normally counter chronological.
Exist within public online environments.
Can include pictures and other multimedia, but are mainly
made up of text.
Normally personal in nature, expressive, informative, and
entertaining.
Can be autobiographical or relating to a certain subject; or
both, or neither.
6. Blogging for Community
Blogging inserts us into a community of others who share a in
similar interest or circumstance.
Blogging within communities helps fight isolation, keeping us
connected to the world regardless of our location.
For more information see: Psychotherapy 2.0s MySpace® Blogging as Self-
therapy, by L. Tan
Allows us to receive feedback from others, which can offer
validation, encouragement, new perspectives, & deeper
understanding of ourselves and our thoughts in relation to others.
Being able to read and respond to others’ blogs allows us to “define [our]
positions in the context of others’ writing as well as outline [our] own
perspectives on particular issues ”.
Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education; weblogs can be used in classrooms to
enhance literacy and critical thinking skills, by J. A. Oravec, 2002
7. Blogging for the
(Re)Creation of Self
Research has shown that due to public audience, bloggers tend to be more invested in their
writing than with usual journal or diary writing.
For more see: Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of student attitudes and impact on
comprehension, by N. B. Ellison & Y. Wu, 2008.
In other words, this deeper awareness of public image can lead to more rereading, editing,
rewriting than with typical journal or diary writing.
Rereading, reinterpreting, and rewriting encourages deeper reflection, which allows us to
see ourselves and our circumstances, events and other people, in new lights and with new
understanding.
For more see: Reflective Practice, Writing and Professional Development, by G. Bolton.
This new understanding helps us to (re)construct a sense of who we are within our new
environment and lifestyle.
Blogging also allows us to become an authority on something, to construct ourselves as a
particular someone.
Provides a record of ourselves over time, which can be reflected upon further in the future.
