Digests - June 2010

Editorial: "Counsellors in the making"

Therapist development is important not only for students, trainers and supervisors, but also for clients and society at large. It is a complicated area to study, however advances in understanding and provision of training are essential to further research in the field.

Therapist development is important not only for students, trainers and supervisors, but also for clients and society at large. It is a complicated area to study, however advances in understanding and provision of training are essential to further research in the field.

It is important for this research to provide a better understanding of the training process and its impact on counsellors' overall development. There is therefore a need to study more closely the training process and to look at the factors that are relevant and meaningful to counsellors-in-training (e.g. interpersonal skills development, coping strategies, self-reflection and awareness).

This special issue includes contributions that shed some light on the formative experiences of trainee counsellors and aspects of training that positively or negatively contribute to development and learning. It is hoped that it will contribute to an understanding of some of the challenges counsellors encounter during their training years, and that it will highlight the importance of continuing to expand knowledge of the effective ingredients in counsellor training.

"Counsellors in the making": Research on counselling training and formative experiences of trainee counsellors
Soti Grafanaki

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Positive client experiences minimise painful aspects of counsellor training

Trainee counsellors need early positive experiences with clients, along with opportunities for experiential learning, peer support and supportive supervision, to enable them to develop effectively and to cope with the emotional demands training places on them.

This is the conclusion of research by Julie Folkes-Skinner and colleagues, which aimed to investigate how a trainee counsellor changes at the start of training. The study also sought to identify which aspects of training programmes were helpful in instigating and supporting change.

Focusing on one trainee counsellor, Margaret, interviews were conducted at the beginning, middle and end of her first term. The results of these revealed that training to be a therapist is stressful and inevitably involves significant shifts in identity, self-knowledge and confidence. Most of which appear to be linked to starting work with clients.

As was evidenced in this study, having clients in mind, or having the experience of working with clients, appears to change the nature of every aspect of the training course. Early client experience has the potential to increase professional competence and confidence, but conversely to damage emerging therapist confidence and identity. It is therefore essential for trainee counsellors at the beginning of practice to be able to depend upon other more experienced professionals who can help them to monitor their development.

While all education demands change, trainee therapists are required to alter not only their thinking and to develop new skills, but also to adapt aspects of their personality to meet the needs of their clients. Training is therefore a potentially disturbing personal journey that requires a deconstruction of the self in order to make space for the new therapist-self to emerge. This change process appears to be influenced and supported by learning exercises such as role-play and group supervision, but may be fundamentally driven by the experience of working with real clients.

'A Baptism of Fire': A qualitative investigation of a trainee counsellor's experience at the start of training.
Julie Folkes-Skinner, Professor Robert Elliott and Professor Sue Wheeler

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Multiple factors key for trainees to develop theory of practice

Trainee counsellors develop their initial theory of practice through the interaction of a range of factors such as reading, personal philosophy, practice and supervision.

This is the conclusion of research involving seventeen counsellors-in-training who were asked to keep weekly journals recording their development of a working theory of practice.

Participant diary entries indicated that identifications with a theory were provisional and were influenced by both personal and professional factors. The direct professional influences that led to identifications were reading and practice, along with professional philosophies, aspirations and reflections. Interactions with professors and supervisors, with other trainees, and with clients were indirect influences.

On the personal level, trainees had individual philosophies, aspirations and reflections on life that were influenced by family or cultural background. They rejected theoretical ideas that were a poor fit with either professional or personal factors.

The central process discovered through the research was the development of a series of tentative identifications toward a practice orientation. The resulting Process Model of Tentative Identifications is consistent with previous research that identified many of the same categories: personal philosophy, family and cultural context, the curriculum, practice, clientele, supervision and teaching. The contribution of the model is to highlight how these factors interact and influence beginning therapists.

How trainees develop an initial theory of practice: A process model of tentative identifications.
Marilyn R. Fitzpatrick, Angela L. Kovalak and Andrea Weaver

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Trainee nondisclosure – What are they not telling you?

Trainee nondisclosure is common during supervision and is most likely to be the result of concerns over how their supervisor views them and the perceived negative consequences of disclosing.

This is the finding of a study by Kristin Mehr, Nicholas Ladany and Grace Caskie, which found that within a single supervision session, 84.3% of trainees withheld information from their supervisors.

The purposes of the study were to examine 1) the content of and reasons for trainee nondisclosure in supervision, and 2) the influence of trainee anxiety and perception of the supervisory working alliance on amount of nondisclosure and willingness to disclose.

Nondisclosures most often involved trainee's negative perception of supervision, personal life concerns, and negative perception of supervisor. A particularly interesting aspect of this finding was that trainees were worried about how supervisors view them in both professional and personal contexts. It may therefore benefit the supervision process if supervisors communicate, to an appropriate degree, their observations and opinions of trainees.

Trainee perception of a better supervisory working alliance was related to less nondisclosure and greater overall willingness to disclose in supervision. Higher trainee anxiety was related to greater nondisclosure and lower overall willingness to disclose in supervision.

The results suggest that trainees would be more apt to disclose information if the supervisor makes active attempts to foster a strong supervisory relationship through utilisation of clinical skills, such as empathy, positive regard, and reflections.

Trainee nondisclosure in supervision: What are they not telling you?
Kristin E. Mehr, Nicholas Ladany, and Grace I.L. Caskie

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Mindfulness training key to reduce burnout in trainees

Mindfulness training can enhance the physical and psychological wellbeing of counselling trainees, teaching them valuable strategies of self-care to help prevent burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatisation.

This is the conclusion of John Chambers Christopher and Judy Maris who ran a fifteen week graduate course applying mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques. The group, who met twice a week for two and half hours each time, learnt and practised meditation, yoga, the body scan and qigong. Throughout the course each student kept a journal charting their progress.

As a result of undertaking the course participants reported increases in physical strength, flexibility, fluidity, balance, and energy. The students also reported greater awareness of the messages continually flowing from their bodies.

In addition they became less preoccupied with themselves, dwelling less on the past moments in the therapy, and worrying less about what they were going to do. As a result they felt they were more present and sensitive to the client's experience and nonverbal communications.

Participants also reported that their mindfulness practices were influencing their clinical work in positive ways. Practising meditation for 15 weeks reduced student discomfort with silence.

In developing greater consciousness and compassion towards themselves, the students reported increased confidence and competence in their relationships with both themselves and others, including their clients.

Integrating mindfulness as self-care into counselling and psychotherapy training
John Chambers Christopher and Judy A Maris

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Collective biography research enables shift from 'counsellor' to 'counselling researcher'

Engaging in collective biography research as part of counselling research training can enable an important shift in those involved from 'learning to do counselling research' to 'becoming counselling researchers'. In addition it can also generate personal and professional learning.

This is the conclusion of a study which investigated ways in which collaborative research methodologies complement core components of counselling training, within and beyond the teaching of research. The study comes as evidence suggests that the growth of counselling as an evidence-based profession is having an impact on how 'research' is taught on counselling courses.

Collective biography research may work best with a group who have previously come together for some shared purpose. As one participant in the study observed, 'Taking risks, facing unfamiliar territory and leaving control behind you, can be tough.' In addition, it was argued that careful consideration needs to be given to the management of ethical issues, such as confidentiality and non-maleficence, within the research.

Ann Dalzell and her colleagues argue that research methodologies training should become integrated into the heart of most counselling training courses. This then moves the teaching of research methodologies from being a 'bolt-on' activity to becoming an integral part of the counselling training programme.

Since engagement with personal histories is at the heart of therapeutic work with clients, there is a place for using collective biography practices within core modules of counselling training courses.

Gliding across the liminal space between counsellor and counselling researcher: Using collective biography practices in the teaching of counselling research methodologies
Ann Dalzell, Christine Bonsmann, Deborah Erskine, Maria Kefalogianni, Katie Keogh and Kalliopi Maniorou

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Therapist skills more important than experience for client satisfaction

The interpersonal qualities and skills of a counsellor are more important than their level of experience in ensuring clients have a positive therapeutic outcome.

This is the finding of a study by Jack De Stefano and colleagues exploring how clients experience the process of counselling with novice practitioners.

It was revealed that participants attributed their positive experience to the counsellor's interpersonal qualities and skills. While they were keenly aware of the counsellor's techniques, the counsellor's relational persona as the embodiment of desirable human qualities and facilitative communicational skills far outweighed the importance of any specific orientation or intervention.

It is therefore suggested that even relatively inexperienced counsellors with minimal training can be effective as novices typically bring an enthusiasm and a freshness or perspective that clients are bound to appreciate.

The clients in the study identified personal qualities and interpersonal skills of the counsellor as fundamental to a good counselling experience. This suggests that training programs need to provide experiential learning which promotes personal development and an awareness of the impact of self on others as a central goal of clinical training.

A qualitative study of client experiences of working with novice counsellors
Jack De Stefano, Varda Mann-Feder and Nicola Gazzola

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