The centrality of the client-therapist relationship in the eyes of the
client
Increasingly, the centrality of the therapeutic relationship as an agent of
change is being recognised within the counselling professions. From the client's
perspective, the quality of the client-therapist relationship is or paramount
importance – more important, for example, than the modalities of therapy practiced
by the therapist.
This workshop will be an interactive exploration of the importance of the
therapeutic relationship, from the client's perspective. Understanding the
client's point of view as a cornerstone of the therapeutic process will be
explored. We will discuss how the therapist's understanding of the client's
point of view can be maximised. The therapeutic potential of the client-therapist
relationship will be explored. The client's experience of the client-therapist
relationship within different modalities of therapy will be considered, as
will the role of therapy, from the client's perspective, in the 21st century.
Audience participation will be encouraged throughout. The audience will be
encouraged to offer their own views and share their experiences.
'Do no harm': devising a critically informed therapy in the light of clients' negative
experiences
It is recognised even by the most critical of the
evidence-based lobby that therapy always contains an element of indeterminacy
and improvisation. It seems likely that some therapy, at least, is mediocre.
But some clients' accounts make it clear that therapy can be culpably damaging
in many ways. This workshop aims to examine how:
informed
consent is secured and how robust it is as a preventive measure
understanding
of transference can be played down or skewed in certain approaches
the
therapeutic process can go seriously awry and why
particular
factors in the creation of damage in therapy arise
views
differ on what is a useful and growth-promoting level of pain.
The presenters will draw on clients' published
accounts, research, clinical and supervisory experiences to illustrate these
points. The question of whether harm can be eliminated altogether will be discussed.
Case studies will be used to make these issues vivid and examples and concerns
will be elicited from participants. Agreed recommendations will be sought from
all.
Biographies
Terry Lynch
Dr. Terry Lynch is a psychotherapist and GP based in Limerick, Ireland. He is the author of Beyond Prozac:
healing mental distress. In the period 2003 to January 2006, Terry Lynch
was a member of the Expert Group in Mental Health Policy in Ireland. This group, appointed by the Department
of Health and Children in Ireland to direct mental health policy in Ireland over the next decade, published its Report A
vision for change in January 2006. Terry Lynch was recently appointed
by the Department of Health and Children in Ireland to the Independent Monitoring Group,
whose remit is to oversee the implementation of A vision for change.
Anna Sands
Anna Sands works as a writer of textbooks for students of English as a foreign
language. She has also worked as a teacher and teacher trainer. She has written
a number of articles and essays about the client's perspective in psychotherapy
and is the author of Falling for therapy – psychotherapy from a client's
point of view. She has a degree in Sociology and an MEd in Language Teaching.
She has two children and two stepchildren and lives with her husband on Dartmoor.
Colin Feltham
Colin Feltham PhD is Reader in Counselling at Sheffield Hallam University, Course Leader for the MA Professional Development in Counselling & Psychotherapy,
author or editor of over 20 books and Fellow of BACP. His publications include
material on clients' views and critiques of counselling and psychotherapy.
Jo Fayram
Jo Fayram, MEd, MA, MA is Lecturer in Counselling, and Curriculum
Leader for ESOL, at New College, Durham. She maintains a small private counselling practice, counsels
for Mind is a college counsellor in Durham. She has a particular interest in clients' experiences of therapy
and efficacy in general.
