In this case study, we, the student Nadya and her supervisor Lena, will describe the processand challenges associated with conducting an empirical study for a master’s degree in caringscience in psychiatric nursing. We will describe how the idea for the thesis evolved, theoreticaland practical preparations, as well as methodological procedures in relation to data collectionand analysis. We will also share some reflections we made in relation to challengesencountered during this study. Many of these reflections were directed toward methodologicalaspects of the study. However, along the way, it also became clear that experiences fromconducting the study also yielded important knowledge and understanding about mental healthcare. The reflections about what happened in the encounter between Nadya and theparticipants added depth not only to our understanding of the subject for this study, that is,how mental health, care, and recovery are experienced by people in a Christian monastery incontemporary Sweden, but also shed light on important aspects of mental health nursing inrelation to modern psychiatry.