When research meets real sessions

Where research starts to meet what we actually see in sessions.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role research plays in our work. Not just what we read, but how it actually shows up in our thinking over time.

I keep coming back to this question:

➡️ How do we use research in a way that truly shapes and informs our thinking, rather than simply reinforcing what we already believe?

Like many of you, I have articles saved, books marked, and ideas waiting to be revisited. Sometimes, I read something and think: Yes, that explains what I’ve been seeing. It gives language to something familiar. It fits. It contributes to my feeling good and like I’m on the right track. 👍💯

Other times, the experience is different.

🤔 Something doesn’t quite line up. Or it raises a question I hadn’t been asking. Or it nudges me to look again at something I thought I understood. My first instinct in those moments isn’t always to lean in. It’s often to move away. To return to the comforts of tunnel vision, to what feels more certain.

But the ideas that don’t quite fit tend to linger.

I notice them resurfacing in sessions. A student responds in a way that doesn’t match what I expected. A strategy that usually works doesn’t land in the same way. A piece of research I read keeps coming back—not because it confirms something, but because I’m still trying to make sense of it

I find myself wondering: What might I be missing here?

💡 This feels like a different relationship with ideas. One that involves holding some uncertainty and allowing research and clinical experience to sit alongside each other for a while.

I’ve been wanting more space for that kind of thinking—where ideas can unfold over time and begin to shape how we see our work. 🧠✨

Reflection

Is there an idea or piece of research you’ve come across recently that didn’t quite “fit,” but has stayed with you anyway?