‘I was seeing more of her’: international counselling trainees' perceived benefits of intercultural clinical practice

Counsellor education in Britain is steadily turning into a multicultural environment. The limited relevant literature focuses on the challenges that ‘culturally different’ and international trainees may encounter. The aim of this paper is to elucidate a rarely exposed aspect of international counselling trainees' training experience, namely, the benefits they identify in practising across languages and cultures during placement. The illustration of this positive perspective is pertinent to the profession, as it expands existing knowledge on international trainees' experience of clinical practice and it challenges the prevailing conceptualisation of this situation as potentially problematic. It is argued that a shift towards a more holistic understanding of this population's counselling experiences is likely to have particularly useful implications for counsellor education and the profession more broadly.     

Psychopolitics

Neophyte group therapy trainees often encounter significant difficulties in their initial experiences as group therapists. In this article, we report and discuss the results of a semistructured interview conducted with each of 16 neophyte group therapy trainees in an academic training program. The interview focused on the trainees' subjective experiences related to their initial training and group therapy clinical practice, with particular emphasis on their satisfaction with their training and the role and impact of supervision. All trainees reported strong emotional reactions to their group experience and numerous technical concerns. However, trainees reported a broad range of degrees of satisfaction with their training. Overall satisfaction with training strongly paralleled satisfaction with supervision and the supervisory relationship. Recommendations for improving the group therapy training experience that emerge from the evaluation of the trainees' subjective experiences are suggested.     

The good,the bad and the uncertainty: Trainees' perceptions of the personal development group

Background: Views about the purpose and role of personal development groups (PD group) in the counsellor training process are varied. Some argue they enhance self‐awareness, self‐exploration, the ability to be congruent and, ultimately, that they make for better practitioners. Others argue there is no clear evidence for such benefits and that they can actually be damaging to trainees. Aims: This study aimed to explore the beliefs of 25 trainees enrolled on counselling diploma or counselling psychology doctoral courses. It looked in particular at their perceptions of the purpose of PD groups and their expectations regarding support, difficulties and the scope of their participation. Method: Data was collected using open‐ended questions in an anonymous survey and was subjected to a thematic analysis. Results: Trainees appeared to hold mixed – and sometimes conflicting – views about the PD group. For some it was a positive endeavour that facilitated learning about self and clients, and helped in the processes of developing counselling skills and keeping the training group healthy. For others it was a feared space, which could elicit negative emotional experiences, and impact negatively on both learning outside of the PD group and the health of the group itself. Still others were unclear about its purpose. Hope/idealisation (of the process, the facilitator and course tutors) were also evident in the trainees' responses. Implications: Implications of these findings for counselling training are discussed.     

“Out on the edge of my comfort”: Trainee counsellor/psychotherapists' experiences of spirituality in therapy—A qualitative exploration

The integration of spirituality into counselling and psychotherapy poses complex challenges. Personal spirituality, professional competency and ethical considerations may impact on trainees' experiences of integrating spirituality into therapy. This study adopted an inductive, qualitative approach to explore trainee counsellor/psychotherapists' experiences and perceptions of integrating spirituality into therapy. Six trainee counsellors and psychotherapists were recruited using purposive sampling from a professional counsellor and psychotherapist training institution in the UK. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted, audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed two overarching themes: spirituality provides support but needs a warning; and spirituality is relevant but undervalued. These themes encompass a wide range of trainee concerns associated with integrating spirituality into therapy. Participants reported that they felt unprepared to work therapeutically with clients' spiritual beliefs. However, the value of spirituality in providing support to both the trainee and their clients was highlighted by several participants. Some participants described integrating clients' spirituality as having a positive impact on the therapeutic relationship, but often felt threatening to the trainee. This research has implications that are important for counselling and psychotherapy training and developing enhanced consideration of client spirituality and the interpersonal environment in which therapy is delivered.     

The challenge of becoming an integrative counsellor: The trainee's perspective

Aim: Integrative therapeutic practice is commonplace within the UK. Counsellors and psychotherapists increasingly report working in this way and numerous training courses have developed which advocate such practice. Despite its popularity, researchers have paid little attention to the impact that such training has upon students. This study therefore explores newly qualified counsellors' reflections of undertaking professional training in integrative counselling. Design: Newly qualified counsellors were invited to take part in a focus group to discuss their training experiences. Two groups were held involving a total of seven people. The data generated was analysed using Grounded Theory. Findings: The core-category ‘The challenge of becoming an integrative counsellor’ was identified. Embedded within this were four sub-categories: (1) ‘training issues’, (2) ‘applied issues’, (3) ‘the development of an integrative theory and identity’, and (4) ‘the impact of integrative training post qualification’. Key findings include the willingness of trainees to tolerate theoretical ambiguity and the discomfort that surrounded not belonging to a pure paradigm community. Discussion: Recommendations are made that trainers and practice supervisors are mindful of the distinct struggles that integrative trainees encounter. Additionally, in response to the isolation that some trainees report, greater use of peer support networks is encouraged.     

How trainees develop an initial theory of practice: A process model of tentative identifications

Aim: The increasing importance of integrative practice highlights the need to explore how trainees develop their theoretical stance. This investigation explored the experiences of trainees to elaborate a model of how they developed their personal theories of practice. Method: Seventeen Masters level trainee counsellors kept weekly journals recording how they developed a working theory of practice. Grounded theory analysis of the journals was used to develop a model of the process. Findings: The resulting Process Model of Tentative Identifications illustrates how a personal theory developed through trainees' tentative identifications with theories of practice, and how factors such as reading, personal philosophy, practice, and supervision interact to produce the identifications. A diagram of the model highlights the relationships among a variety of personal and professional factors that ranged from highly abstract to concrete and practice-based. Discussion: The model is consistent with several factors identified in previous research and highlights how trainees develop working theories of practice.     

‘A baptism of fire’: A qualitative investigation of a trainee counsellor's experience at the start of training

Background: Belief in the effectiveness of professional counselling and psychotherapy training is widespread and generally unquestioned. Few studies have attempted to understand the changes experienced by trainees, or identified which aspects of professional training programmes assist them in the process of becoming therapists. Aims: to investigate how a trainee counsellor changes at the start of training, and to identify which aspects of a professional counsellor training programme were helpful in instigating and supporting change. Method: the experience of one trainee counsellor, Margaret, was captured through three semi-structured interviews conducted at the beginning, middle and end of her first term. The data were subjected to systematic qualitative analysis. Findings: Margaret experienced significant change during her first term. Each interview revealed a different phase of her development. The core categories were: becoming something new (week 3); growth in therapeutic confidence (week 6); surviving ‘stressful involvement’ through supervision (week 11). Experiential learning, in particular group supervision, was helpful throughout. The presence of real clients was identified as the main driver for change. Conclusion: The findings were found to be consistent with a number of other studies, which suggest that training is potentially painful because of the emotional demands it places on trainees, particularly at the start of practice. Consequently trainees require opportunities for experiential learning, peer support and supportive supervision to assist them in their development, but most importantly, given that supportive supervision can only minimise the harm of stressful involvement (Orlinsky & Ronnestad, 2005), they need early positive experiences with clients.     

Client perspectives: The therapeutic challenge of domestic violence counselling – a pilot study

Aims: This qualitative pilot study explored the perceptions of four female domestic violence clients regarding counselling they had concluded in order to identify a preliminary client‐preferred domestic violence counselling approach. Method: Semi‐structured interviews asking about significant events during counselling were held. An adapted grounded theory and narrative methodology was used. Results from the analysis were reviewed with two of the participants. Participants were offered additional counselling support if required after the research interview. Results/Findings: Domestic violence clients found starting counselling particularly difficult after years of keeping the abuse to themselves. Participants actively withheld and managed information for several sessions and needed to know they had time to explore their experiences. The counsellor being consistent and non‐judgemental, and understanding domestic violence and its effects was helpful. Having a clear ending was appreciated by the participants. Discussion: The initial development of the therapeutic relationship benefited from active discussion of how domestic violence could affect behaviour and emotions. Good early therapeutic relationships showed elements of the three main psychological schools. Participants benefited from a pro‐active discussion of endings. A key limitation of this research is the small sample size. Implications for practice: The research suggests that counsellors would benefit from knowledge and skills from different psychological schools and specific training in domestic violence. Allowing flexibility on the number of sessions available to clients may be helpful. Conclusions: Further work is required to explore these preliminary findings. However, early indications suggest that domestic abuse clients may benefit from non‐time‐limited specialist counselling services.     

Research Report: Correlates of learning styles and counsellor trainees' age and gender

Counselling relationships are important indices of therapeutic efficacy. In the Fall 2001, 71 counsellor trainees in a Counsellor Education programme at a Mid-western university participated in the current investigation. The purpose of the study was to examine relationships of learning styles in terms of counsellor trainees' age and gender (using a recently developed Preferred Learning Style Inventory, namely KPLSI). Results of the present study suggest that counsellor trainees' learning styles are varied, except that there are statistically strong groupings in analytic, global and particularistic learning styles domains among this particular body of students. Additionally, the age of trainees tend to relate to superficial and sensational learning styles, whereas gender is, participatory.     

Language and eyewitness suggestibility

During forensic interviews, eyewitnesses are to retrieve correct information from memory. Cognitive load should be high, leading to risks of giving in to suggestive questions and difficulties in memory retrieval generally. Testifying in a non‐native vs. native language may require even more cognitive effort due to the need to inhibit the interference of the native language. Such witnesses may also be more motivated to appear credible because they often belong to ethnic outgroups relative to forensic professionals, risking more scepticism. In this study, Swedish participants (N = 51) reported their memory of a simulated crime event either in English (non‐native language) or in Swedish (native language) and were tested for suggestibility and accuracy. Results showed that English‐speaking witnesses yielded to more suggestive questions, perceived themselves as less credible but were equally accurate. Results suggest that testifying in a non‐native language is taxing cognitive resources, in turn increasing suggestibility and suboptimal memory search.     

Language‐specific stress perception by 9‐month‐old French and Spanish infants

During the first year of life, infants begin to have difficulties perceiving non‐native vowel and consonant contrasts, thus adapting their perception to the phonetic categories of the target language. In this paper, we examine the perception of a non‐segmental feature, i.e. stress. Previous research with adults has shown that speakers of French (a language with fixed stress) have great difficulties in perceiving stress contrasts ( Dupoux, Pallier, Sebastián & Mehler, 1997 ), whereas speakers of Spanish (a language with lexically contrastive stress) perceive these contrasts as accurately as segmental contrasts. We show that language‐specific differences in the perception of stress likewise arise during the first year of life. Specifically, 9‐month‐old Spanish infants successfully distinguish between stress‐initial and stress‐final pseudo‐words, while French infants of this age show no sign of discrimination. In a second experiment using multiple tokens of a single pseudo‐word, French infants of the same age successfully discriminate between the two stress patterns, showing that they are able to perceive the acoustic correlates of stress. Their failure to discriminate stress patterns in the first experiment thus reflects an inability to process stress at an abstract, phonological level.     

The crisis of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical training: The suffering of the candidate on the long road towards qualifi cation1

The author assesses the impact of the so‐called ‘crisis of psychoanalysis’ on the training of candidates, and on those who accompany them through the course. Different causes of the most relevant symptom of the crisis, i.e. the diffi culty of fi nding patients for a four‐sessions‐weekly analysis, are considered. According to the author, analysts themselves must bear some of the responsibility for it. She draws attention to a number of interrelated phenomena, such as: trainees' tension in their encounters with potential analysands, due to awareness of their own needs as trainees; the necessity to accept very disturbed patients whose selection might arouse criticism from the training committee; analyses in which trainees seem to become patients' hostages because of ever‐present fears of interruption; the diffi cult construction of a psychoanalytic identity in trainees who also are in full‐time psychiatric practice; trainees' profound uncertainty about the future both of psychoanalysis in general and their own careers in particular. In agreement with Kernberg, the author stresses the importance of considering the ‘crisis of psychoanalysis’ as a phenomenon whose development may be infl uenced by the analysts themselves.     

Identifying support systems: a mapping exercise

Within systemic training there is an increasing focus on integrating trainees' personal life experiences and beliefs with their practice. In this paper we present a mapping exercise that is used to help trainees explore their own support needs and the resources they draw upon in order to carry out their work. Although this exercise was developed from training carried out with professionals working with refugees it is our belief that it can be used by any professional groups who wish to explore their own support needs within a learning environment.     

Independent and interdependent self-construals as predictors of multicultural case conceptualization ability in counsellor trainees

This study examined the extent to which independent and interdependent self-construals were related to counsellor trainees' multicultural case conceptualization ability (i.e., ability to conceptualize clients from a multicultural perspective). Results revealed that, after accounting for race or ethnicity and prior multicultural training, counsellor trainees' self-construal scores were significantly predictive of their ability to conceptualize clients from a multicultural perspective. Specifically, independent self-construal scores were negatively related to trainees' ability to conceptualize clients from a multicultural perspective, whereas interdependent selfconstrual scores were positively associated with multicultural case conceptualization ability. Future research directions are offered.     

'Psychodynamic and Religious?' Religiously committed psychodynamic counsellors,in training and practice

This article supports a case for an increased research focus upon and within counsellor training with consideration of the counsellor's religious orientation. This aspect of professional diversity was investigated via in-depth interviews with eight religiously-committed psychodynamic counsellors. Their accounts of experiences in training, supervision, personal therapy and professional practice were subjected to qualitative analysis using grounded theory methods. Three major themes were identified: changes occurring in participants' religiosity; aspects of disclosure of personal religious commitment; and the non-inclusion of religious issues within the counsellor training process. The latter theme emerged considerably more forcefully than the others, and produced an array of questions to stimulate further research.     

The Influence of Counselor Trainee Anger-Proneness and Anger Discomfort on Reactions to an Angry Client

In this study the authors explored the relationship between counselor trainee anger-proneness and anger discomfort and trainees' reactions to an angry client. A total of 38 of trainees viewed and gave their reactions to a videotape of an angry client-actress. There were two dependent variables in the study: discomfort with and anger toward the client. Trainee anger-proneness and anger discomfort scores were positively and significantly related to discomfort with and anger toward the client. Implications for future research and training are discussed.     

Psychodynamic therapists' dilemmas in providing personal therapy to therapists in training: An exploratory study

Aim: This study explores dilemmas facing psychodynamic therapists who provide personal therapy to therapists in training. Method: Eight experienced psychodynamic psychotherapists were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview format during which they were asked about the importance of personal therapy, if they encountered any dilemmas and, if so, how they resolved those dilemmas. Their responses were analysed using a qualitative form of content analysis. Findings: Two categories of dilemma emerged: clinical and personal. Clinical dilemmas arose out of the mandatory requirement for therapy, boundaries, fitness to practice and the suitability of trainees. Personal dilemmas included pressure to model, sense of responsibility, therapeutic narcissism, countertransference reactions, over‐use of self and stressful involvement. The therapists' strategies for resolving the dilemmas are described. Conclusion: The results show participants considered personal therapy to be essential for trainees and thought it should be mandatory even though it led to difficulties in the therapy. Questions arose about the suitability of some trainees, the person of the therapist and stressful involvement. Further research into these important areas is recommended.     

A qualitative study of client experiences of working with novice counsellors

Aims: This paper reports on a qualitative analysis of written accounts by clients who participated in a counselling relationship with beginning-level trainees. The purpose of the study was to explore how clients experience the process of counselling with novice practitioners. Method: Consensual qualitative research was used for data analysis. Findings: Three general thematic categories were identified – client perceptions of self in counselling; client perceptions of the counsellor; and client perception of the counselling process. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that these clients saw the interpersonal qualities and skills of the counsellor as major contributors to their experience. Implications: Clinical training of novices should start by developing the interpersonal and collaborative skills of trainees.