Life story research: A relevant methodology for counsellors and psychotherapists

Aims: This paper introduces, describes and proposes life story research as an important, relevant and appropriate contribution to counselling and psychotherapy research. It shows how narrative knowledge is created and constructed through the stories people tell about their lived experiences and explores the concept of ‘narrative knowing’ (Bruner, 1986). Methods: Drawing on life story research with people who linked their history of problematic drug use with experiences of historic trauma/abuse, the paper contributes to the ongoing discussion related to the similarities/differences between therapy and research and what we might learn from each that informs the other. Implications for practice: The paper offers narrative ideas and practices as ways of researching matters of social and psychological importance. It suggests that therapists (and counselling researchers) could learn from what participants tell us about the therapeutic value of using life story methods which one participant described as helping him to face ‘out into the world, without unduly or specifically delving into, or focusing on [my] emotional state’. This learning may be particularly relevant for therapists working with traumatised clients.     

Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: A qualitative interview study

Counsellors face a lot of problems and stressors in their daily lives. As a person, counsellors may face challenges to deal with their personal expectations and responsibilities in life, work, family and community. As a professional, counsellors may face difficulties in dealing with professional issues and ethical dilemmas in their professional practice such as countertransference and value conflicts. These raise issues concerning their perceived multicultural competence and the adequacy of their training. Informed by a multicultural counselling perspective and drawing on semi-structured interviews with 12 professional counsellors in Malaysia, this study discusses the types of barriers and challenges faced by Malaysian counsellors and how these challenges were manifested and addressed in the cross-cultural counselling sessions. Results revealed five emerging themes based on participant counsellors’ responses on the barriers and challenges encountered in their practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. These were challenges related to counsellors’, clients’, presenting issues’, third-party and specific contexts’ characteristics. Research implications for the education and training of counsellors in the specific Malaysian socio-political context are also discussed.     

Men's experience of considering counselling: ‘Entering the unknown’

Agency statistics in the UK and North America reveal that fewer men than women attend counselling, at a ratio of about 1:2. This study investigated men's experience of considering counselling, with the aim of gaining further understanding of factors that might contribute to the existing gender discrepancy in utilisation of counselling. Following responses by 47 men to written questionnaires, 10 men who had considered and ultimately attended counselling were interviewed, and a grounded theory method of analysis was used to generate and analyse the participants' experiences. Three interconnected categories emerged: societal perceptions of counselling and gender roles; change of experience over time; and knowledge — ‘knowing’ and ‘not knowing’ the protocols of counselling. The implications of these findings are discussed. It is recommended that prospective male clients should be provided with information about the counselling process, and that there needs to be increased awareness by counsellors and referring agents of male gender issues.     

Life Design Career Counselling with an Abandoned Adolescent: A Case Study

This article describes the value of life design counselling with an abandoned adolescent female. The participant was selected purposively from among a group of abandoned adolescent females who had expressed a need for career counselling. The life intervention comprised two 90-minute sessions per week over a period of a month. Life design data included collage, family constellation, life line, career style interview, asset map and life chapters. Following the intervention, the participant demonstrated career adaptability and an eagerness to take an active part in her evolving life story. Life design counselling has potential to meet the career counselling needs of children with neglect and abandonment experience.     

Counselling in general practice: Clients' perceptions of significant events and outcome

An investigation of clients' perceptions of the change process and outcome of counselling in primary care is presented. Significant events were identified by 51 clients post-session for a mean of 4.7 counselling sessions. Outcome was assessed by clients, through their perceptions of goal attainment and change in quality of life from pre-to post-counselling. Four-hundred-and-nine events were categorized by use of the Therapeutic Impact Content Analysis System (TICAS) and a content analysis system was created to categorize clients' goals. Results showed that ‘reassurance’, ‘problem solution ’, ‘insight’ and ‘involvement’ impacts were reported most frequently by clients. No category of significant events was related to change in quality of life. For 11 clients who set goals in the ‘expression’ category, more ‘reassurance’ and fewer ‘problem solution’ impacts were related to attainment of ‘expression’. Some suggestions are made for the lack of significant relationships with overall measures of outcome and it was suggested that more qualitative analysis of the process of outcome is needed.     

The experience of counselling for female clients with anorexia nervosa: A person‐centred perspective

Anorexia nervosa is a serious and potentially life‐threatening condition, which has been studied from a range of theoretical perspectives. However, the relevance of person‐centred theory and practice in relation to anorexia nervosa has not previously been explored in the literature. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of clients who had received counselling for anorexia nervosa, and to set these experiences against the backdrop of person‐centred theory. The study is based on intensive heuristic analysis of interviews with five clients who had completed counselling for anorexia nervosa within the previous three months. Collaboration between the researcher and the participants led to an identification of two of the six ‘core’ conditions identified by Rogers as being of real importance to clients with anorexia: unconditional positive regard and congruence. The context in which counselling is offered was also of crucial significance to these clients. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Working with differences: Issues for research and counselling practice

This paper considers our experience within a group researching domestic violence in minoritised groups and the implications for counselling practice. Issues of race, gender and power were significant within the research team. These issues are intrinsic to minoritised women's experiences of service responses and are also a powerful, yet often unexplored, dynamic in counselling practice. We reflect on issues of ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders’ in terms of the research process and findings, and the impact and influence of these power roles on counselling practice. We acknowledge that it is only by retrospectively engaging with each other and our differences that we have been able to explore our parallel processes and consider their implications for counselling practice.     

‘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.     

Wisdom at the end of life: Hospice patients’ reflections on the meaning of life and death

The processes of aging and confronting mortality are often accompanied by unique psychological challenges. From the perspective of positive psychology, such challenges can yield opportunities for growth, including increased wisdom. This qualitative study explored 15 terminally ill hospice patients’ perspectives on wisdom, the dying process, and the meaning of life using consensual qualitative research methods. Most participants cited humility as a key component of wisdom, emphasizing that “Wisdom is when we realize ‘I don’t really know much’.” Other components of wisdom included self-knowledge, rationality, experiential learning, listening to and learning from others, and sharing knowledge with others. Participants also suggested that the process of facing illness and death presents opportunities for positive growth, including changing priorities and learning to appreciate life more fully in the present moment. In considering the sources of meaning in their lives, participants emphasized relational connections, personal growth, spirituality, vocational fulfilment, and living a full life. Participants also shared their reflections on important past experiences and regrets. Lastly, participants offered advice to others based on their experiences facing illness and mortality. Implications for psychological care of the dying and future research are discussed.     

Experiences and perceptions of multicultural counselling scholars: a qualitative examination

This study explored the experiences and perceptions of 12 multicultural counselling scholars with regard to the field of multicultural counselling. Based on a qualitative analysis, many of our participants noted that aspects of being a multiculturally competent counsellor included open-mindedness, flexibility, a commitment to the field, active listening, knowledge and awareness of cultural issues, skillfulness in making cultural interventions, commitment to social justice issues, self-awareness, and exposure to broad and diverse life experiences. Most of the participants also stated that a challenge associated with being a multicultural psychologist was colleagues’, institutions’, and others’ resistance toward and lack of support for multicultural counselling issues. Moreover, many participants indicated that the multicultural counselling movement has had good to great impact on the larger field of applied psychology. Future research directions for the area of multicultural counselling are discussed.     

A grounded theory exploration of therapists’ experiences of somatic phenomena in the countertransference

Somatic phenomena in the countertransference have historically received minimal attention despite evidence of their occurrence in the therapeutic encounter. In the field of Counselling Psychology, there seems to be an apparent gap in the academic coverage and clinical utilisation of therapists’ somatic states. The purpose of this study was to explore therapists’ somatic experiences in the countertransference using a grounded theory methodology, based on a sample of 12 participants that was composed of psychotherapists, counselling and clinical psychologists. The results indicated that therapists made sense of their somatic experiences through a developmental process of ‘relating to the body’ that combined stages of defensive operations, intellectual reflections, attributions of somatic ownership and recognitions of various working patterns in the management of somatic experiences. This study addresses the factors that constituted therapists’ processing of the experience, and the findings suggest that therapeutic work may be affected when psychosomatic phenomena as such become undermined and ignored.     

Narrative counselling with a young engineer

This case study applied a narrative approach to develop the sense of self as a career resource for a young male engineer in his first working year. The participant client attended eight sessions lasting 60 to 90 minutes each over a period of five months. The case sessional data were thematically analysed. Following the intervention, the participant displayed career strengths of willingness to deal with challenges, enhanced adaptability strategies and volition to elect preferred work setting. He also displayed an enhanced future orientation. Narrative counselling appeared to support career adaptability development.     

Young clients' narratives of the purpose and outcome of counselling

This study explores how adolescent clients construct the purpose and outcome of counselling. A narrative analysis was performed on interviews with 22 clients (aged 16–18) who had used a school-based counselling service. The aim was to identify the purpose and outcomes that participants attributed to their counselling experience. The analysis identified four narrative forms that young clients used to describe counselling. These included ‘transformative’, ‘supportive’, ‘pragmatic’ and ‘disappointed’ narratives. Each narrative form constructed a different purpose and outcome for counselling. Engaging with clients' narratives about the purpose and intended outcome of counselling may allow counsellors to better match their expectations and approach to fit with their young client or to work with them to co-construct more flexible narratives that support helpful outcomes.     

Narrating attachment: Some lessons learned from Charles Dickens' novel ‘Little Dorrit’

In this paper the author aims to explore the way in which contemporary society is informed by the values of technology, and how this ‘technological milieu’ influences the practice of counselling and therapy. The philosopher Albert Borgmann identifies some of the values of technology as efficiency, speed of results and ease of availability. While acknowledging technology's undoubted benefits, Borgmann warns that allowing these values to dictate ever more aspects of life threatens to impoverish us. In contrast with technological devices, the ‘focal’ experiences which give our lives meaning are rich and complex, as much to do with the journey as with reaching a goal. In this paper, the author argues that it is important to try and preserve counselling and psychotherapy as focal experiences, despite increasing pressure to conform to a more technological approach. In the light of this, the drive towards evidence-based treatments, the promotion of time-limited focused approaches to treatment and current trends such as the interest in neuropsychological approaches to attachment theory are examined.     

The oedipal wound in two stories by Kafka: The Metamorphosis and A Country Doctor

Kafka read Freud and was interested in psychoanalysis but believed there was no ‘cure’ for what was essentially the problem of living. As always with creative artists, the writer is his own psychoanalyst, and the actual process of writing is his means of self-revelation. The aim of this paper is to consider, in relation to two stories (The Metamorphosis and A Country Doctor), Kafka’s use of this background oedipal conflict with his father or received values (the ‘law’) as a springboard for the type of wound that results in creative writing. The wound for him became a kind of personal myth, and was also associated with other painful stimuli, including his tuberculosis and his troubled love affairs, but above all with his identity as a writer. The writing process and the ‘faith-value’ it demands is an underlying metaphor behind these narratives of Kafka’s ‘dream-like inner life’. There are parallels here with Bion’s psychoanalytic philosophy of ‘suffering’ and ‘psyche-lodgement’.     

Facebook as a platform for collecting women's birth stories: Supporting emotional connections between researchers and participants

This paper extends debate on the use of social networking sites in social science research, specifically focusing on their role in creating ‘emotionally connected’ research spaces. Drawing on the authors' experiences of using a closed Facebook group as a platform for collecting women's ‘birth stories’, we explore to potential of Facebook to support the transcendence of traditional researcher/participant relations and empower participants through creating something akin to a ‘Community of Practice’. The project also contributed to a process of inter and intra-personal self-care, which, as a research team, we recognise as an important driver of our research agendas. We acknowledge that the virtual cannot be all-inclusive but conclude that this methodological approach has generated both a rich dataset and a series of emotions for researchers and participants that added value to the research process. We also argue that this approach captured a greater depth of experience and diversity of voice than would have been the case if we had chosen to use traditional face-to-face methods. We call for future research to focus on better understanding some of the challenges related to the appropriateness of Facebook as a platform for hearing the voices of particular socio-cultural groups.     

JAPANESE AMERICAN WARTIME EXPERIENCE,TAMOTSU SHIBUTANI AND METHODOLOGICAL INNOVATION, 1942–1978

A case study of how wartime internment reverberated in the life and work of Japanese American intellectuals, this essay discusses the career and interests of Tamotsu Shibutani, a sociologist who began his training as part of Dorothy Swaine Thomas’ Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS). Though recent scholarship has noted some of the ethical problems that attended the use of Japanese American participant observers during the war, this essay concentrates instead on how interned intellectuals responded to their double role of both researcher (and intellectual) and object of study. I argue that in the case of Shibutani, his circumstances and identity shaped his scholarship, both as an academic endeavor and a political project. By tracking Shibutani's postwar scholarly activities, I show that his wartime experiences—as an internee, military officer, and participant‐observer—reverberated in his sociological publications long after the war's end.     

Gliding across the liminal space between counsellor and counselling researcher: Using collective biography practices in the teaching of counselling research methodologies

Aims: Drawing on their engagement in a specific collective biography research project, the co-authors aim to demonstrate how the weaving together of creative story-telling and the theory underlining collective biography practices resulted in an understanding of rhizomatic research methodologies from within the process. This paper aims to demonstrate one way in which research methodologies training can become more firmly embedded within counsellor training courses. Method: A collective of counselling students and a session tutor colleague used collective biography practices to research their memories of traversing the liminal space between ‘counsellor’ and ‘counselling researcher’. Alongside the resulting collective stories, a collaborative review of the research process examined our chosen ways of working within the project. Outcomes: Engaging in collective biography practices resulted in an experiential shift from ‘learning to do counselling research’ to ‘becoming counselling researchers’. Weaving together research processes and researcher reflexivity generated personal and professional learning. Ways in which these research methodologies complement core components of counselling training, within and beyond the teaching of research, were identified. Conclusions: Collective biography practices offer a way of introducing non-arboreal creative research methodologies into counsellor training. Careful consideration of potential challenges surrounding the introduction of these practices is required.     

Avatar‐based counselling for young people within school counselling. Qualitative analysis of client experience

Background

This study is a qualitative analysis of clients’ experiences of a new avatar based counselling intervention, based on the ‘ProReal’ software ( www.proreal.world ). The intervention was piloted in eight secondary schools in the UK in 2016.

Aims

Twenty‐nine participants (53% of the full sample) were interviewed about their use of the software, experience of the intervention, process of change and views about its helpfulness.

Materials and Methods

Interviews were semi‐structured and were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

The analysis shows that the intervention was potentially attractive to these clients, particularly those enthusiastic about digital software and clients who found visual communication helpful. The software provided additional opportunities for clients to communicate their inner worlds to the counsellor and supported the development of insight. Male clients, in particular, commented on its helpfulness.

Discussion

There is an indication that digital imagery supported the process of change in counselling and the development of meaning bridges: both internally and with the counsellor (Stiles, 2011; Stiles et al., 1990). However, the software could be experienced as an obstacle when clients wanted to talk about specific problems or ‘vent’ their feelings. All clients who reported that they did not find the software helpful were female. There were a number of suggestions about developing the software to increase opportunities for expression as well as appropriateness for clients from different minority ethnic backgrounds.

Conclusion

Use of digital software in counselling has a potential to enhance communication and support a process of change, particularly with male clients, those who find visual communication helpful, and clients enthusiastic about digital technology. Further research is needed to develop the intervention and compare it to the use of other creative media in counselling.