Dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Counselling in Education.

This research aims to explore young people's experiences of having secrets and the impacts of secrets in their lives. Through discourse analysis the research reflects and analyses texts from interviews with young people, while presenting their ideas about secrets and how they impact families. Dominant ideas relating to breaking the power of secrets for young people who have experienced domestic violence are explored. Discourses that constitute secrets are identified and discussed under four major themes of: the secrets experience, telling, family and counselling. As a result of reflections on the implications for practice, the co-researchers in this project have produced a pamphlet summarising ideas about secrets and advice for counsellors/therapists.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT

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