Rickett and Joseph Beyond this point TEXT Special Issue 42: Writing and Trauma 1 eds Bridget Haylock & Suzanne Hermanoczki, October 2017 Avondale College of Higher Education, University of Technology Sydney Carolyn Rickett and Sue Joseph Beyond this point here be dragons: consideration and caution for supervising HDR writing trauma projects Abstract: As memoir and autobiographical/autoethnographic texts flourish in the market place, so this emergence is reflected in the tertiary education sector. Mostly sited within journalism, English and creative writing schools, a proportion of these texts incorporate trauma narrative as students turn to creative practice degrees as a means to write through disruptive autobiographical events. Accordingly, supervisors of HDR candidates undertaking long form trauma narrative find themselves more and more immersed in the trauma, bearing witness to their students’ potential unease. We argue that this type of supervision may potentially necessitate a differentiated management approach, with the establishment of additional protocols, informed by the potential dangers of re-traumatisation of the candidate; and vicarious traumatisation of the supervisor. The aim of this paper is to report on some of the preliminary findings of a qualitative research project where a range of Australian academics supervising Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates writing about traumatic experiences were interviewed regarding supervisory protocols and practices. 2 Here we focus on selected insights from supervisors who responded to one of the interview questions: ‘what do you consider the potential risks for a student and a supervisor involved in HDR projects framed by trauma narrative?’ We anticipate this paper will provide helpful perspectives from experienced academics for early career supervisors about to embark on trauma shaped projects. Biographical Note: Carolyn Rickett (DArts) is an Associate Dean of Research, Senior Lecturer in Communication and creative arts practitioner at Avondale College of Higher Education. She is co-ordinator for The New Leaves writing project, an initiative for people who have experienced or are experiencing the trauma of a life-threatening illness. Together with Judith Beveridge, she is co-editor of The New Leaves Poetry Anthology. Other anthologies she has co-edited with Judith Beveridge include: Wording the World; Here, Not There; and A Way of Happening. Her research interests include: trauma studies; writing as therapeutic intervention; medical humanities; journalism ethics and praxis; literature and poetry. Sue Joseph (PhD) has been a journalist for more than thirty-five years, working in Australia and the UK. She began working as an academic, teaching print journalism at the University of Technology Sydney in 1997. As a Senior Lecturer, she now teaches journalism and creative writing, particularly creative non-fiction writing, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Her research interests are around sexuality, secrets and confession, framed by the media; ethics and trauma narrative; memoir;