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BACP's 8th Annual Research conference was entitled 'Working Together' and took place on 17-18 May 2002. It was held at the Commonwealth Institute, London in association with the Royal College of Nursing.

Ronnie Aaronson

Professional Role: Counsellor/Teacher
Institution: Life Story Therapeutic Centre, Swindon Alcohol and Drug Service
Contact details: 19 Hanbury Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2EP
Email: ronnieaaronson@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT: Poster

Boredom - A Study of Practitioner Boredom

Aims: To investigate how therapists make sense of boredom in the counselling session, and how this understanding effects their therapeutic response to it. My interest in boredom generally stems from my experience of teaching children with learning difficulties, and the challenge of making the teaching material "interesting". I also found as a psychodynamic counsellor that it was difficult to engage with some clients some of the time and I started to wonder whether this was always due to projective identification.

The literature search identified boredom as a defense, but whose defense, and against what, appeared to be problematic. I was also interested in how this assessment affected which therapeutic intervention the therapist did, or did not make.

Methods: Focus groups were used to generate grounded theory which was used, together with information thrown up by the literature search, as the basis for a questionnaire. Follow-up telephone interviews were used for the purpose of triangulation (Silverman 2000) and to verify findings that the questionnaire generated.

Sample: The questionnaire was sent to 60 participants taken from the UK Counselling and Psychotherapy Directory 2000. 30/60 respondents took part.

Analysis: The research generated both quantitative data and qualitative data. Quantitative data is presented in the form of bar charts. The content analysis of the qualitative data was undertaken by means of immersion and categorization (McLeod 1999).

Findings: To follow. So far: Expected data - when therapists understand boredom as a projection, especially projective identification, they more usually make an interpretation to the client. When therapists see the boredom as the result of a defense that they are employing, they are more likely to do nothing or to take the issue to their supervisor/therapist.

Hilary Abrahams

Professional Role: 3rd Year PhD student
Institution: School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Contact details: Domestic Violence Research Group, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, 3a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TZ
Email: hilary.abrahams@bristol.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Families and Young People

Working Together: Psychosocial Work in Women's Aid Refuges

Aims: On any day, nearly 7,000 women and children are sheltering from domestic violence in Women's Aid refuges in the UK. This study seeks to establish how support is given to women, the range and types of support available and when different kinds of support, including individual counselling and group work, seem most appropriate.

Methods: Data from Women's Aid surveys is being used to establish the extent of service provision, together with case studies in three refuge projects in differing locations. These involve observation and semi-structured interviews with current and past residents and project members. The research has been designed in collaboration with the projects, taking account of individual areas of concern. Particular problems arise in contacting past residents and also in securing a wide variety of views on the support given. To some extent these can be overcome by longer-term contact with the refuge.

Interim Findings: Early indications are that women coming to a refuge are affected by a process similar to that involved in bereavement, with fluid and overlapping stages of progression and a need for changing types of practical and emotional support. Key elements in facilitating this process appear to be peer support, a respectful and empowering approach from workers and the continuing availability of counselling, counselling skills and group work integrated within the environment. Also critical is support to ensure the cessation of violence and safe accommodation in the future.

Conclusions: This research indicates a way of conceptualising the time spent in a refuge, understanding changing support needs and the importance of emotional as well as practical support from a variety of sources working together to empower women.

Mansor Abu Talib

Professional Role: Ph.D Student
Institution: University of Manchester
Contact details: 3 Ansdell Street, Manchester, M8 0WA
Email: mansorat@btopenworld.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Use of Information Technology

'I Have To See You In Text: A Relationship in E-Mail Counselling'

This qualitative study investigated whether or not e-mail counselling can be a therapeutic tool when working with client (e-catharsis, trust and empathy). I attempted to discover whether 'shy and quiet' students and those having negative experience in face-to-face counselling would benefit from such service. E-mail counselling was offered to sixty (21 male and 45 female) students in my former undergraduate 'Counselling and Guidance' course in a university in Malaysia. Students were briefed about the nature of this study, ethical issues and to agree on an informed consent if they wish to participate. Eleven students responded but only eight (3 male, 4 female and 1 unknown) underwent the complete counselling process in eight weeks (4 e-mail sessions per client). Data collection using open-ended questions pertaining to personal background (optional) and e-mail counselling's experiences were done through e-mail interaction. Data were coded and analysed to find significant themes and pattern. Email counselling seems to appeal to 'capable and visible' students who have found face-to-face counselling as beneficial. Students who responded to my email counselling were academically above average students. They asked questions and took part enthusiastically in counselling labs. My intention to get reaction from 'shy and quite students' did not materialised. Clients said that they would participate in e-mail counselling only if they have some ideas about the counsellor. Some aspects of the email counselling have it own therapeutic value that cannot be replicated in face-to-face modalities (deep personal issues, problem focused, session in print). E-mail counselling does have therapeutic elements and e-catharsis, trust and empathy are likely. Positive face-to-face counselling motivates individual to engage in e-mail counselling. Prior relationship and some idea about the counsellor are desirable. Future research on why 'shy, quiet and below average' students did not participate in e-mail counselling is suggested.

Nahid Ahmad

Professional Role: PhD Student (3d Year)
Institution: University of Wolverhampton
Contact details: University of Wolverhampton, Psychology Division, Wulfrun Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB
Email: nahidsahmad@aol.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Therapist Relationships

Power in Therapy: Good and Bad Clients?

This is a work-in-progress paper which discusses research forming part of a Ph.D at the University of Wolverhampton. The paper will discuss how therapists and clients construct their notions of each other through the therapeutic relationship, and how these notions may mobilise power issues.

The research aim was to investigate the role of power in therapists' notions of 'good' and 'bad' clients, within a social constructionist paradigm. The research proposes that therapist and client notions are constantly changing as they work together within a therapeutic relationship. Therapist notions of 'good' and 'bad' clients are mobilised through their active use of language. In this way language creates meaning through the utilisation of social constructions, which are made available by certain discourses.

Method: Two studies have been conducted, and a final follow-up study is currently being planned. Study 1 involved two focus group interviews with six trainee counsellors. Study 2 involved one-to-one interviews with six trained counsellors. The final study will involve one-to-one interviews with six clients. Analysis of the data took the form of a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, according to principles set out by Willig, (2001).

Findings: Findings supported a social constructionist way of looking at this topic: When mobilising 'good' and 'bad' notions of clients, therapists draw on major discourses which offer them certain social constructions. Findings supported that discourses and constructions offer therapists positionings which impact on power differentials between client and therapist. The main finding here, was that the construction of power is variable, and is therefore reliant on contextual cues.

Conclusions: The therapeutic relationship is both complex and context specific. This research is relevant to therapy in practice as accounting for discourse in the ways in which therapist and client work together, may offer an insight into how therapist notions of clients can be explained by context and culture, rather than therapists' personal characteristics. In this way, it may become interesting to address how therapists may be constrained by their contextual discourses, which provide "space" for notions of 'good' and 'bad' clients.

Willig C (2001). Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology: Adventures in Theory and Methodology. Buckingham: OUP.

Kate Anthony and Matt Lawson

Professional Role (KA): Consultant
Institution: Onlinecounsellor.co.uk
Contact details: 82 Tormount Road, Plumstead, SE18 1QB
Email: kate@onlinecounsellors.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Workshop

Strand: Use of Information Technology

Researching The Uses of Innovative Avatar and Virtual Environment Technology for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Aim: Introducing the theoretical concepts taken from empirical research that has led to researching avatar/virtual technology as a viable method of conducting Counselling and Psychotherapy over the Internet. To demonstrate innovative technology formed by therapists working together with technology to better research concepts such as client empowerment, disinhibition effect, anonymity effect, distance therapy advantages (global barriers), and client choice of therapist. Audience participation includes discussion with the panel about how their client work and research could be affected by working with technology.

Demonstrations of the technology are:

1. A Counselling website using therapist avatars interacting with a client
2. Virtual environments to and how these could be chosen by the client to facilitate their comfort within the therapeutic session.
3. Group therapy and global group research using avatars in as virtual environments.
4. Avatar building technology and emotions

The workshop will close on a brief summary by Kate Anthony into specific research questions that are being raised by Counsellors and Psychotherapists embracing technology. This will concentrate on the conference theme of "Working Together", from the point of view of working with technology as opposed to resisting it because of traditional Counselling and Psychotherapy schools of thought.

Mari Ayano

Professional Role: Ph.D Student/Counsellor (Japan)
Institution: School of Education, University of Durham
Email: mari.ayano@durham.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Cultural Issues

Working Together - Means of Supporting International Students

Aim of the study: Every year, an increasing number of Japanese students go abroad to study. Although they are highly motivated, many find it difficult to cope with life in an unfamiliar environment. Those difficulties are often related to their emotional conditions. The aim of the present study is to find what kind of support can meet their emotional needs and facilitate them to be effective as a student and as a resident abroad. Methods: I conducted a one-year longitudinal research project with Japanese international students in England by questionnaires (N=49) and interviews (N=18). The questionnaires concern students' background, experiences, feelings and emotions before and during their study abroad, and the collected data are mainly analysed quantitatively. The interviews cover the similar questions to those in the questionnaires, but more in depth and the data are analysed qualitatively.

Findings: The findings show that the students frequently experienced emotional difficulties over the year. It is also shown that establishing and maintaining relationships with both other Japanese and local students are a large concern for many students. Despite this fact, most of them did not find currently available support systems helpful and struggled by themselves and talked enthusiastically about what they really wished to have to overcome those difficulties.

Conclusions: As a consequence of the increases in the number of international students and because of growing interests in multicultural issues, there has been much discussion of support systems from different research perspectives. However there are few studies that focus on what such students actually need. In the presentation, by carefully examining those Japanese students' stories of experiences during their study in England, I would like to preliminarily report some of the findings and discuss possibilities of a support system which really meets international students' needs.

Lisa Baraitser

Professional Role: Project Manager and Counsellor
Institution: The Maya Centre
Contact details: The Maya Centre, Eastgate Building, 131B St John's Way, London N19 3RQ
Email: lisa.baraitser@ntlworld.com or maya.centre@btclick.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Families and Young People

Thinking about Mothering: An Evaluation of the work of The Mothering Project, a Psychodynamic Therapeutic Service for Mothers.

The Mothering Project is a new therapeutic service for mothers, aiming to improve quality of parenting through increasing mothers' confidence, self-esteem and capacity to reflect on themselves and their children. The Project is set within an established psychodynamic women's counselling centre, working with women on low incomes, who have had no access to higher education or previous counselling. The Mothering Project was evaluated in order to gain a greater understanding of three domains:

• the problems mothers face leading to their attendance at the Project
• the type of service provided
• the gains mothers make from using the service

Qualitative methods were used to elicit the views of clients and staff members. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 former clients and 5 staff members. This data was triangulated with data from questionnaires at the beginning and end of therapeutic interventions. Results indicate that clients come to the Project because they are isolated, have difficulties mothering their children, suffer from a range of mental health problems, struggle with unresolved issues from the past, and live in conditions of deprivation.

The Project was viewed as accessible, providing a varied programme of individual and group work focused on mothering, within a calm and welcoming environment. Results indicate that the strengths of the service may lie in the combination of a flexible, creative, friendly approach with clients, alongside a rigorous level of thinking by staff about each individual client, from a psychodynamic perspective.

Some significant gains were identified: a decrease in depression and anxiety, alcohol and drug use, and isolation, and an increase in self-esteem, confidence in mothering and hope for the future. Severe and prolonged depression was not felt to have been helped by attendance at the Project. Ending their contract was experienced by some as very difficult.

Implications for the provision of therapeutic services for mothers are discussed.

Rowan Bayne

Professional Role: Reader in Counselling
Institution: University of East London
Contact details: School of Psychology, University of East London, Romford Road, London E15 4LZ
Email: rowan@uel.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Workshop

Strand: Training

"Writing"

The workshop offers an opportunity for participants to consider their approach to writing (or not writing) and some alternatives which may increase enjoyment and output. The main method is brief exercises and discussion. Fantasies and irrational beliefs about successful writers explored and a multi-stage model of writing for publication is considered. Two general themes are (1) to consider a wide variety of strategies, including some which orthodox approaches discount or miss and (2) that each person's strengths as a writer should be developed first and the opposite (complementary) strengths added later and in a subsidiary way. The workshop is based partly on MBTI theory, which assumes that there are best ways for each writer and that the best approach for some people will be the worst for others, and partly on Robert Boice's research.

Bayne, R. (1995) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator A critical review and practical guide Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Boice, R. (1994) How writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency. A Psychological Adventure Westport, Connecticut: Prager.

Liz Bondi

Other Authors: Judith Fewell, Árnar Árnason and Colin Kirkwood

Professional Role (LB): Professor of Social Geography
Institution: University of Edinburgh
Contact details: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP
Email: liz.bondi@ed.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Working Together in the Voluntary Sector

Working Together In The Context Of Counselling: Between Purity And Community

Counselling always involves people working together. At its heart is an interpersonal practice that depends upon individual counsellors and clients working with one another, but this always takes place in particular contexts, which involve other kinds of working together. This paper examines some examples of working together in the provision, organisation and management of counselling services. We sketch out two contrasting views about how the relationship between counselling and its various contexts might be understood: one that emphasises the need to ensure the purity of counselling relationships; and one that emphasises the web of wider connections - or sense of community - within which counselling relationships are embedded. Against this background we draw on a series of interviews conducted with managers, management committee members, and counsellors involved in a wide range of voluntary sector agencies organisations in several different parts of Scotland, in order to analyse their efforts to respond to the tension between protecting the autonomy and privacy of counselling work and reaching outwards to forge relationships external to this work. In conclusion we draw attention to important differences in how the relationship between counselling and its various contexts is imagined.

Ann Bowes

Professional Role: Former consultant in counselling to University of Bristol/Counsellor and Psychotherapist in Private Practice.
Institution: Private consulting room
Contact details: 21 Canowie Road, Bristol BS6 7HR
Email: ann@bowes21.fsnet.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Mental Health Professionals

Defending Against Experiencing: An Exploration To The Threat To The Essential Passion And Professionalism Of Counsellors And Academics.

The research in this paper was undertaken in an attempt to understand the processes underlying the denial by the then senior university management of the passion and professionalism of qualified and accredited counsellors which limited the development of a fully professional counselling service. The paper explores the denial of the experience of passion and professionalism in academia by traditional british universities, which was found to be closely linked to the original processes around counselling, drawing on a case study focused around the provision of a staff counselling service. It is grounded in a review of the major psychoanalytic perspectives on organisations and links this to co-operative inquiry as the methodological approach most sympathetic to such counselling and psychoanalytic perspectives in both theory and practice. Co-operative inquiry involves researching with, not on, people and stresses the perspective and experiences of those with whom the research! Is conducted: it enabled participants to explore, to develop and to change the original research question for themselves. The study was based on a collaboration with three university staff groups, facilitated by the author and conducted over a five year period. The research concludes that there is a defending against "experiencing" which inhibits the passion and professionalism of academia, not counselling alone. Drawing on the earlier review of psychoanalytic perspectives on organisations the paper conceptualises a range of ways of understanding the processes, unconscious and conscious, at work in the university. It offers conclusions and implications for the development of staff counselling services and staff development, as well as some methodological reflections.

Peta Bowker

Professional Role: Counsellor, MA Student
Institution: University of Reading
Contact details: 61 Twin Oaks Close, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8JE
Email: pbowker@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Concerns

Working Monolingually with a Bilingual Patient: The Therapist's Experience

This paper is based on a research dissertation to be submitted in June 2002, as part of the MA in Counselling at the University of Reading. My interest in the topic arose out of my own experience both as a psychodynamic counsellor who has worked with bilingual clients, and as a teacher of foreign languages.

Aims: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the meanings that psychodynamic counsellors and psychoanalytic psychotherapists gave to their experience of working in English with a client /patient who used English, proficiently, as a second language. I focused particular attention on the therapist's countertransference, which has received little attention in the literature. I examined how therapists' theoretical backgrounds influenced the way in which they thought about and worked with the phenomenon of bilingualism. Finally, I asked therapists for their recommendations for the profession.

Methods: I conducted semi-structured, audiotaped interviews with a purposive sample of ten participants, from June 2001 to February 2002. The sample was obtained through contacts with counselling and psychotherapy organisations, and other media. I analysed the data using phenomenological and hermeneutic principles.

Brief summary of the findings: The main theme was 'separation and connection'. Many therapists expected a 'language barrier', and anxieties about communication were common before meeting the patient. Most therapists listened with extra attention to their bilingual patients, even when they were very proficient English speakers. Other findings included therapists' reactions to foreign accent, and indications of envy of the bilingual patient.

Implications: The results indicate that awareness of the underlying psychodynamic meanings of bilingualism is important in the assessment of bilingual patients or clients, for supervision and for the ongoing therapy. There are also implications for the inclusion of the issues on training courses.

Christina Bracegirdle

Professional Role: Counsellor in Private Practice/Co-ordinator of Counselling, Stevenage and North Herts Counselling Centre
Institution: University of Hertfordshire
Contact details: 3 Havelock Road, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 0DB
Email: tinabracegirdle2@netscapeonline.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Therapist Relationships

Containment - Freedom in the Client

Aim: To explore the possibility of the tension (or polarity) between the concepts of containment and freedom in the client that may enable/disable emotional movement from the client's perspective.

Method: Five client co-researchers kept journals of their thoughts and feelings after weekly counselling sessions for four months. A bricolage methodology, incorporating reflexivity, grounded theory, hermeneutics and heuristic process formed a collaborative inquiry which took two years to complete. Improvements need to be made on the definition of terms used in the study for the term 'containment' is already widely used in another context and the term 'freedom' has a well documented philosophical background which needs to be taken more into account. The main strength of the project is perhaps in the feedback of the co-researchers which confirms the researcher's previously held belief that there is a tension or polarity between the concepts of containment and freedom.

Findings: Each co-researcher felt that the individual analysis of their journal fitted with their own understanding as well as giving insights into their internal world. They also found that the theoretical constructs created from the work made sense of their feelings and the process of emotional movement in counselling. The study suggests that the tension between containment and freedom does exist for the client but a larger study, over a greater time period will continue to investigate the concept.

Conclusions: There is still a long way to go! However even the glimpse that this study gives into the client's internal world does offer a new way of looking at the client's experience of counselling and so in turn may add to the counsellor's understanding of the circumstances that enable/disable emotional movement and change.

Mark Brayne

Professional Role: Journalist and Transpersonal Psychotherapist
Institution: BBC and CCPE
Contact details: 8 South Close, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 5TP
Email: mark.brayne@virgin.net

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Traumatic Stress and other Organisation Issues

The Experience for Journalists of Emotions and Trauma

Aim: The aim of this investigation was to explore the way in which journalists:
- especially those involved in reporting conflict and foreign affairs - experience emotions and trauma, in terms both of how it affects them personally and how it impacts on their journalism.

Summary of Findings: Journalists with experience of reporting conflict and traumatic events (such as rail crashes, the Middle East, African genocide or the September 11 attacks on America) have a markedly higher likelihood than a journalistic control population to display symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

However, journalistic organisations and culture are only slowly coming to accept the emotional dimension of the profession.

Journalists (at least in the main English language areas) are trained to consider themselves as dispassionate observers reporting only facts. In reality, they can be profoundly affected - emotionally and spiritually - by what they observe. Furthermore, the journalism which they believe to be objective bears the (often unconscious) mark of that involvement.

Larger media organisations such as the BBC and Reuters provide confidential counselling services for their staff. However, the therapy and counselling professions have so far done little to adapt and develop their practice specifically to meet the needs of journalists - whether clinically traumatised or seeking personal meaning in their work.

Methods and approach: This presentation will present material from in-depth, therapeutic interviews with nine serving foreign correspondents, and contrasts it with other similar surveys.

A summary of various seminars and conference findings on the subject of journalists reporting on conflicts will also be discussed.

Conclusions: In conclusion, there is very little qualitative data on how journalists experience and process the emotions generated in their work. Further in-depth research is needed, ideally in individual therapeutic and also group settings.

Therapists and counsellors, and their professional bodies need to develop appropriate ways of working with journalists, to include debriefing, groupwork and peer counselling as well as traditional individual therapy.

There is an urgent need both for public discussion about these issues in the media themselves, as for the introduction of appropriate training and awareness-building at all levels - for aspiring journalists in the journalism schools, for new recruits to established organisations and in continuing training for the experienced journalist. For the purposes of this paper, the term journalist is used to embrace reporters and correspondents working for all kinds of news media, and also producers, cameramen and fixers.

Jill Brennan

Professional Role: Counsellor
Institution: North Manchester General Hospital
Contact details: Department of Clinical Psychology, North Manchester General Hospital, Central Drive, Crumpsall, Manchester
Email: jill_brennan@hotmail.com and jill.h.brennan@stud.man.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Poster

Counselling: A Complex Case?

Counselling always occurs in a social/institutional context and is influenced by its setting, hence the importance of including work settings in research. This poster is based on an audit of the work of one counsellor working in a cognitive-behaviourally oriented clinical psychology department in an inner city hospital. It describes the location of counselling within the local system and raises issues including:

• the contrast between the prevalent assumption in the NHS that counselling is a short-term intervention suitable only in relatively simple cases and the actual complexity of caseload in this setting;
• the number and diversity of issues thought relevant by clients to their distress;
• the complementary nature of integrative counselling within a CBT team, and its role in enabling more efficient use of evidence-based cognitive-behavioural interventions in this setting;
• the role of counselling in services for clients with severe and enduring mental health problems.

Pauline Cahill

Other Presenter: John Waite
Other Authors: John Waite and Dr Kate Gleeson

Professional Role: Psychotherapist, Researcher
Institution: Dept of Psychology, UWE Bristol, and Private Practice
Contact details: Dept of Psychology, St Mathias Campus, University of West of England, Oldbury Court Road, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 2JP
Email: pcahill@sghms.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper and Poster

Strand: Client Concerns

Strand: Mental Health Professionals

Investigating Paradigms of Helping and Healing In Mental Health: Confused Clients and Potluck Psychotherapy Professionals?

Aim

Three approaches to mental health are studied:

• Medical - psychiatrists and general practitioners,
• Psychotherapeutic - psychotherapists and counsellors
• Psychological - clinical and counselling psychologists.

The debate within the psychology profession is seen in discourses between clinical and counselling psychology and in conflicts within counselling psychology.

There are two aims:

• Explore and clarify discourses and paradigms used in defining and debating differences within and between the medical, psychotherapeutic and psychological approaches and to examine the effect of these paradigms on multidisciplinary working in mental health.
• Analyze the conflicting discourses and paradigms within the counselling psychology profession.

Summary: Design:

Grounded theory and phenomenological analysis with in-depth interviews reveal the discourses and underlying paradigms.

Method: Participants selected for experience, diversity of approach and training: from psychiatry, general practice, clinical and counselling psychology, psychotherapy, counselling.

Informed consent obtained. In-depth interviews undertaken:

• Four pilot interviews (psychiatrist, counselling psychologists, clinical psychologist)
• Twelve semi-structured interviews over 5 months: transcribed and analysed for differences and similarities between professions and to identify underlying discourses and paradigms.

Summary of findings

Phenomenological analysis of discourse revealed emerging themes:

• Diversity of approach and beliefs
• Incompatibility of approaches.
• Responses to counselling psychology
• Medical Model
• Brain chemistry
• Length of treatment
• Practitioner experiencing therapy as a client
• Power of the therapist
• Role of supervision

Conclusions

Next stage of research:

Application of analysis to the professions. Addressing concerns around the central paradigm within medical, psychotherapy and psychology professions. Use of Focus Group to address effective multidisciplinary working.

Application of analysis with reference to profession of counselling psychology. Investigating the position of counselling psychology and the role of counselling psychologists as emerging professionals.

Ruth Caleb and Pushpinder Chowdhry

Professional Role (RC): Head of Counselling
Institution: Brunel University
Contact details: The Counselling Service, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UX 3PH
Email: ruth.caleb@brunel.ac.uk

Professional Role (PC): MSc Course Tutor
Institution: Greenwich University
Contact details: 56 Paines Lane, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 3BT
Email: pkchowdhry@aol.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: University Services

Beyond the Individual - The Changing Role of the University Counselling Service

Aim: The last decade has seen enormous changes in the provision of Higher Education in the UK. These changes have included widening participation to include 'non-traditional' students, the growth in student numbers and the increased numbers of student with mental health difficulties.

This joint Doctoral Project researches the changes that University Counselling Services had experienced in their work with students and staff, and explores the impact that these changes have had on the role of their services within their institutions.

Summary of Methods Used

• A questionnaire was sent by e-mail to all Heads of University Counselling Services in the UK.
• Case studies of students of all backgrounds were captured on film.

Findings: There was a response of 60% to the questionnaire. The findings demonstrate a growing participation in a tremendous range of roles that are rarely recognised formally by universities, including staff development, training, teaching, staff consultation, staff counselling, committee and working party attendance, and other university-wide initiatives, as well as attendance at external groups and organisations.

Insight was also gained into the process of working together on a joint doctorate, an experience that gave rise to more than the sum of two individual minds, but shaped a third dimension of creativity in the development of our doctoral project.

Conclusion: The different roles that Heads of Counselling Services identified show the remarkable range of activities engaged in by University Counselling Services all over the UK, as well as the one-to-one counselling that services offer to students.

The results of the questionnaires, with the case-studies, will eventually be presented in the form of a documentary film, which will demonstrate the needs of today's university students and the widening roles taken on by University counselling Services, to meet the emotional and psychological needs of students and staff, while supporting the mental wellbeing of the university community as a whole.

Kate Cavanagh

Professional Role: Senior Psychologist
Institution: Ultrasis plc
Contact details: 13-17 Long Lane, EC1 9PN
Email: kcavanagh@ultrasis.com

ABSTRACT: Paper and Poster

Strand: Use of Information Technology

Empirically Supported Computerised CBT: Efficacy, Effectiveness And Change Mechanisms

Aim: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is recognised as a treatment of choice for anxiety and depression. However, delivered in its usual one-to-one, face-to-face manner, CBT is expensive and its availability is limited and inequitably distributed. Beating the Blues, a computerised CBT programme for anxiety and depression, is an innovative solution to this problem. Delivered in eight weekly sessions as a stand-alone programme Beating the Blues requires minimal clinical supervision and can be delivered in primary care. This paper presents empirical support for the use of Beating the Blues in primary care settings.

Method: In a randomised controlled trial, patients suffering from anxiety and/or depression who received Beating the Blues showed significantly greater improvements in depression and anxiety compared to treatment as usual, improvements which were retained, undiminished at 6-months follow-up. Symptom reduction was paralleled by significant and enduring improvements in work and social adjustment.

Findings: Early findings from an open trial in primary care indicate that benefits established by randomised controlled trial appear to translate into worthwhile effectiveness in routine practice settings. Change mechanisms in computerised CBT are also explored drawing on analysis of session-by-session ratings of anxiety and depression.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that computerised, interactive, multimedia CBT under minimal clinical supervision is feasible and acceptable in primary care. Beating the Blues adds significantly to short-term and long-term symptomatic improvement and to work and social adjustment. These findings permit, via computerised CBT, wider dissemination of effective psychotherapies for patients suffering from anxiety and/or depression. Computerised CBT can play an important part in meeting unmet need for psychological help in primary care, freeing counsellors and psychotherapists working face-to-face with clients to focus on those clients for whom computerised therapy of this kind may prove insufficient.

Khatidja Chantler and Sophie Smailes

Professional Role (KC): Independent Researcher, Counsellor and Supervisor
Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University
Contact details: Dept of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Elizabeth Gaskell Campus, Hathersage Road, Manchester, M13 0JA
Email: k.chantler@mmu.ac.uk Tel: 0161 247 2169

Professional Role (SS): Lecturer and Counsellor
Institution: As above
Contact details: Dept of Health Care Studies, address above
Email: s.smailes@mmu.ac.uk Tel: 0161 247 2525

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Cultural Issues

Acknowledging, Negotiating and Working with Difference: Domestic Violence and Minoritisation

Aims of the Study

This study seeks to identify, model and evaluate support for South Asian, African-Caribbean, Irish and Jewish women escaping domestic violence.

As abuse features heavily in what clients bring to counselling, our study helps to increase understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of abuse by both exploring the common experiences of women, as well as highlighting the racialised dimensions of abuse which are rarely acknowledged.

Summary of Methods Used

The study is jointly funded by the European Social Fund and the Manchester Metropolitan University and is based in the Women's Studies Research Centre. It is an 11month study, being conducted by a culturally diverse group, due for completion in July 2002.

The approach used is qualitative and has three phases:

a. We have completed twelve 1:1 organisational interviews with workers from domestic violence and related agencies.

b. We are in the process of interviewing 25 women from the above cultural backgrounds, reflecting on the needs and concerns of minoritised women with experiences of domestic violence.

c. We are setting up, and facilitating, 3 support groups for women with experiences of domestic violence based on the expressed views of women in b).

Process, Findings and Implications

The culturally diverse group, in which we work seeks to make explicit, and to explore, issues of diversity both within the research group and with research participants. Our work as person centred counsellors partly informs this process and parallel processes have surfaced which are relevant to our practice. Significant themes have already emerged which present challenges to 'working together'. These include issues of 'cultural' matching, both within the research process and as signifiers for practice, how the wider political context impacts on what can be told and heard, and the interfaces between culture, class, gender and abuse.

Karen Doherty

Professional Role: Counsellor
Institution: Royal College of Nursing
Contact details: 20 Windsor Avenue, Belfast, BT9 6EE
Email: karen.doherty@rcn.org.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Traumatic Stress and other Organisation Issues

Work Related Post-Traumatic Stress in Nurses

AIM: The aim of the study was to determine the level of symptoms of post-traumatic stress in nurses using the RCN Counselling Service where bullying at work is a factor. The study was conducted among clients undertaking counselling at the RCN's Belfast office by the RCN Northern Ireland Board counsellor, Karen Doherty.

METHOD: Trauma levels were assessed using a standard inventory validated in disaster and combat situations. (the Hammarberg PENN Inventory). Trauma levels were compared for individuals before and after counselling, at six months plus and against a control group. The counselling method used was Cognitive Behavioural counselling which research has shown is the most effective therapy for trauma victims. Trauma symptoms were assessed against DSM IV criteria. In depth semi-structured counselling interviews were used to check for all possible sources of trauma past or present.

FINDINGS

Phase one study n = 16

16 subjects were identified with PTSD symptoms during the study period. This represented 30% of clients seen at the centre during the year. Hammarberg PENN Inventory scores for this group were well above the 35 threshold predictive of a diagnosis of PTSD (mean 50.4, SD 8.45).

Phase two study n = 41

41 subjects were identified with PTSD during the study period. PENN Inventory scores for this group were well above the 35 threshold. The same 41 subjects were also identified as being in a clinical population using the CORE-OM. Most scores had reduced by end of counselling and by six months + only two subjects scored above the CORE clinical threshold of 1.29 and the PENN threshold of 35

Conclusions

This study has shown that the PENN inventory is a reliable tool for rapidly identifying those with PTSD symptoms resulting from work-related trauma. Analysis of CORE data shows that the majority clients moved from a clinical to non-clinical population, using the standard CORE benchmark. However, analysis of data from the RCN's Working Well initiative, which included CORE-OM, suggests that the threshold of 1.29 is too high for nurses. In that survey, 50% of the nurses undergoing counselling scored lower than 1.29 (actually scored over 1.1), meaning they would have been missed if the CORE scores were the only method of assessment in the selection process. More research needs to be done in this area, possibly taking different professional groups into account.

Robert Elliott

Professional Role: Professor of Psychology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Experiential Psychotherapy.
Institution: University of Toledo
Email: relliot@uoft02.utoledo.edu

ABSTRACT: Plenum Paper

'Evaluating the Effectiveness of Therapy in your own Practice: Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design'

Several writers have recently proposed expanded single case quasi-experimental designs that are not tied to behaviourist assumptions about psychotherapy or counseling. These include Fishman's (1999) "pragmatic case study design," Schneider's (1999) "multiple-case depth research," Bohart's (2000) qualitative adjudicational design, and Elliott's (2002) "hermeneutic single case efficacy design" (HSCED). These designs overlap substantially, and all take an interpretive approach to examining client change and its causes. They investigate two knowledge claims: (a) that the client actually changed, and (b) that therapy was responsible for client change. In this presentation, I outline one of these approaches, Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED). HSCED uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to create a network of evidence that first identifies direct demonstrations of causal links between therapy process and outcome, and then evaluates plausible nontherapy explanations for apparent change in therapy, including nonimprovement, statistical artifacts, relational artifacts, client expectations, self-correction, extra-therapy events, psychobiological factors, and reactive effects of research I illustrate the method with clinical data, and discuss key issues such generalizability and using systematic, quasi-judicial processes to evaluate inferences.

Bohart, A.C. (June, 2000). A qualitative "adjudicational" model for assessing psychotherapy outcome. Paper presented at meeting of Society for Psychotherapy Research, Chicago, IL.

Elliott, R. (2002). Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design. Psychotherapy Research, 12, 1-20. Fishman, D.B. (1999). The case for pragmatic psychology. New York: New York University Press. Schneider, K.J. (1999). Multiple-case depth research. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55, 1531-1540.

Kim Etherington (workshop 1)

Professional Role: Lecturer/counsellor/supervisor/researcher
Institution: University of Bristol
Contact details: 11 Old Sneed Park, Sneyd Park, Bristol BS9 1RG
Email: kim@effingpot.com

ABSTRACT: Workshop 1

Strand: Writing for the CPR journal

Writing For Publication In CPR Journal

As the newly appointed assistant editor of CPR I shall facilitate a workshop offering a forum for discussion about how to get a paper published in CPR. I will invite participants to explore the meanings of 'context', 'reflexivity' and 'creative and engaging writing'.

Participants will be invited into group discussion about their hopes, fears and expectations about submitting a paper and published authors will be encouraged to offer insights from their own experiences.

The process will be explained from submission to publication so that intending authors can be as informed as possible before taking the plunge.

Life belts and water wings will be on hand!

Kim Etherington (workshop 2)

Professional Role: Lecturer/counsellor/supervisor/researcher
Institution: University of Bristol
Contact details: 11 Old Sneed Park, Sneyd Park, Bristol BS9 1RG
Email: kim@effingpot.com

ABSTRACT: Workshop 2

Strand: Research Methods

Editing A Book as Narrative Research Methodology

This workshop aims to examine the idea of editing a book as a narrative research methodology. I will base the workshop around the learning I have gained through producing two edited books in the last 12 months: 'Counsellors in Health Settings' and 'Rehabilitation Counselling in Physical and Mental Health'. Each of these books is an overall narrative that contains many stories written by individual storytellers. These storytellers write from a personal position that is reflexive and contextualised.

I intend to draw parallels between my work in editing these books and undertaking research. The processes overlap in many ways that might not have been recognised or articulated. Many people who edit books would not describe themselves as researchers, something I would dispute.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for people who are interested in knowing more about editing books to discuss their ideas and questions - as well as debating the issue of editing a book as a research method.

Practical information can be shared and discussion of ethical issues that arise in this kind of work will be highlighted.

Beverley Flitton

Other Author: Professor Julia Buckroyd

Professional Role: School Counsellor
Contact details: 48 Osidge Lane, Southgate, London N14 5JL
Email: b.flitton@btopenworld.com

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Counselling with Children - Lessons from Research and Practice

(Note: the article to which this abstract belongs will be published in EBD 7(3) Journal)

Exploring The Effects of a Fourteen-Week Person Centred Counselling Intervention With Learning Disabled Children

Nationally it has been recognised that learning disabled young people may be at risk of developing mental health problems. The Foundation for people with Learning Disabilities has launched a one-year enquiry into meeting the mental health needs of this group. Additionally, with the introduction of the Special Needs and Disability Act 2001, there is a need to ensure equal access to services for learning disabled young people. If this is to happen then a model for access and the effects of counselling has to be thoroughly researched and presented. The aim of the study described here was to explore the effects of a person centred counselling intervention on the learning disabled child's self-concept. The participants were pupils who attended a London Borough school for Moderate Learning Difficulties. The head teacher selected participants who he thought might benefit from counselling. The study is qualitative and incorporates two parts:

a. Practitioner research via a fourteen-week person centred counselling intervention.
b. Exploration of teachers' views of the child's self-concept via a pre and post intervention questionnaire.

This study used a projective technique to measure the child's self-concept. As a way of overcoming inherent speech and language difficulties and anxieties about self-expression, person centred art therapy was used as an adjunct to counselling. The study indicates that three out of four pupils demonstrated an improved self-concept. However, only one out of four teachers' questionnaires indicated a positive movement within the child. A more extensive project is required to substantiate the findings of this pilot study.

The research has been documented and the results will be published later this year. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Trust has recently awarded funds to the University of Hertfordshire to replicate and extend upon this work.

John Ford

Professional Role: Counsellor/Psychotherapist
Institution: RNID
Contact details: RNID Richardson House, Billing End Road, Blackburn BB2 6PT
Email: john.ford@rnid.org.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Therapist Relationships

The Phenomenon of Love As The Key Agent For Change Within The Therapeutic Relationship

The aim of this research was to study three specific things:

1. Whether or not therapists identify the cause of their clients' problems as a lack of love (real or perceived) which is compounded throughout their lives.
2. Whether or not they regard the 'cure' of this dis-ease to be the reception/perception of love, thereby reversing the process.
3. If the first two premises were held, how do they achieve this in their relationship with the client?

To obtain the information required, eight therapists were interviewed from different approaches and backgrounds. Therapists were chosen at random, once their theoretical approach had been established.

The research was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenological approach following the heuristic process of data collection and analysis as developed by Moustakas. The research question was also posed on the BACP research noticeboard. This realised over a dozen responses.

The results of this research showed a general support of the first two questions. All participants (interviewees and respondents) identified the therapeutic agent of change as 'love', and the absence of adequate love as the cause of their dis-ease.

Regarding the third part of the question, the therapeutic relationship itself, participants identified the qualities, or aspects, of love as:

Acceptance - (unconditional) 8 out of 8
Attention - (mostly as listening) 6/8
Relationship (reflecting a parent/child relationship) 8/8
Tenderness 5/8
Empathy 8/8
Transpersonal/spiritual 7/8
Touch 4/8
Therapist as ego-less 4/8
Compassion 4/8

Reasons for dis-ease:
Absence of self-love 8/8
Rejection 8/8

The literature search provided similar results:
Love as a necessary part of the human condition
Effects of deprivation
The conditions of worth
Love as: commitment, empathy, caring, touch, parental, attention, acceptance.

Miriam Gaston

Professional Role: Nurse Lecturer
Institution: University of Salford
Contact details: School of Nursing, University of Salford, Peel House, Eccles, Manchester, M30 0NN
Email: gaston@salford.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Medical and Health Issues

An Exploration of The Person-Centred Process Within A Multi-Disciplinary Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme

Aim: To identify the phenomenon that may influence the counselling process when working with patients during a rehabilitation programme.

Methods: A review of the literature revealed that the conceptual understanding of person-centred counselling process within a multi-disciplinary cardiac rehabilitation team was limited. The study described here drew on a grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) in order to determine those phenomenon that could influence the counselling process when working with participants of an 8 week cardiac rehabilitation programme. The 18 month study involved the counsellor working with up to 6 clients per week (no. of sessions 1-26). The data was collated from: the counsellor's personal diary; records of individual and group supervision sessions; records of meetings with the multi-disciplinary team. The limitations of the study include issues related to its lack of eligibility, however, it has provided insights that could lead to work that may verify the findings. It also raises issues around the value of counselling within the sphere of rehabilitation.

Summary: The organisation of the multi-disciplinary team, and, the counsellor's anxiety influenced the engagement of the client in the therapeutic process. Collusive elements identified within the counselling process that had an adverse effect of the relational depth of the process. There were limitations in assessing the effectiveness of counselling within the context of a cardiac rehabilitation programme.

Conclusions: Up to 35% of people who have a heart attack each year are diagnosed as suffering from mental illness, often anxiety and depression (Jones and West, 1995; American Association of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Rehabilitation, 1995; Thomas, 1995; Crowe, et. al. 1996; Department of Health 2000). However a review of the literature revealed a lack of conceptual understanding of how the counselling process could be used with these patients. The difficulty in evaluating the effectiveness of counselling in cardiac rehabilitation has implications for working within this sphere of health care.

References:

American Association of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Rehabilitation (1995).

Guidelines for cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention programs. 3rd ed. Human Kinetics. Champaign.

Crowe, J. M. Runios, J. Ebbesen, L. S. Oldrdge, N. B. Streiner, D. L. (1996) Anxiety and depression after acute myocardial infarction. Heart and Lung. March/April pg. 98-107.

Department of Health, (2000) Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework. London.

Jones and West (1995) Cardiac Rehabilitation. BMJ Publishing Group London.

Strauss, A. L. and Corbin, J. (1990) Basics of qualitative research; grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage publications Inc. London.

Thomas, J. J. (1995) Reducing anxiety during phase 1 cardiac rehabilitation. Journal of Psychosomatic research. vol. 39. no. 3. 295-304.

Ewan Gillon

Professional Role: Lecturer in Psychology
Institution: Glasgow Caledonian University
Contact details: Dept of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA
Email: e.gillon@gcal.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Gender and Cultural Issues

Men's Talk about Food and Guilt: A Discourse Analysis

Presentation Aim: To identify and discuss a study of men's talk about food and guilt in relation to its implications for therapists.

Methods: The paper is based on a doctoral study employing a discursive analytic methodology. Eight men were interviewed in-depth about their approach to food and eating four times over the period of a year. The results were analysed using a hybridised form of the discursive action model (DAM), which focused on the 'actions' performed by speakers in talk. In this paper, the discursive actions performed by men when talking about food and guilt will be considered

Summary of Findings: A number of discursive strategies are employed by men to deny or downplay guilt in relation to food and eating. It will be argued that these strategies are a product of the social construction of food-related guilt as potentially indicative of a problematic approach to eating. Problems with eating are commonly associated with women and may also imply a lack of control in relation to food. It will be suggested that these associations may constitute an interactional dilemma for men in managing identity concerns while at the same time presenting difficulties with eating and food. Awareness of this dilemma may enable therapists and referral agencies to engage more effectively - particularly at the early stages of any intervention - with men experiencing difficulties with food.

Conclusions: It will be argued that the presentation of food and eating as a concern by men must be viewed in the context of a number of cultural constructions relating to gender and identity. Questions will be raised with regards to the possible effects of therapeutic collusion with such constructions and their relationship to food and eating.

Dr. Peggy Gosling

Professional Role: Head of the Multi-agency Behaviour Support Team (MABST)
Institution: Support for Learning Service, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Contact details: SEN Centre, 85 Harford Street, London E1 4PY
Email: peggygosling@hotmail.com

Abstract: Paper

Strand: Counselling with Children - Lessons from Research and Practice

Services working with children with behaviour problems

The purpose of this doctoral research, which employed a comparative case study approach, was to examine the way successful behaviour practitioners conceptualised their role and competence base, and the principles and values associated with effective practice. It represents practitioner research in the sense that the researcher worked as a behaviour support teacher and service manager throughout the course of research. However she did not study her own work or service, but a range of behaviour support services, which were able to provide evidence of their effectiveness. All services worked in the school context, but differed in relation to size, socio-economic context, model of work and other variables. A variety of methods were used to collect a chain of data with a bearing on these issues, including interviews employing "hierarchical focusing" and "personal construct" methodologies providing the core data. Analysis of each case was "grounded" in the data, and the presentation of the successive cases in the dissertation builds a substantial evidence base for the findings and conclusions of the research, which represent the most general and substantive themes to emerge, irrespective of key variables.

The findings provide first of all a detailed description of the professional role, core activities and competence base supporting effective practice. All services had core process models, seen as "the way we work here," and informed by psychological, counselling and educational models. They suggest that successful practitioners worked not only in, but also with context, building adult partnership providing adult partners with that which was necessary and sufficient to meet the needs of vulnerable children. Hence, all identified counselling skills as fundamental to their work, as well as a range of knowledge and skills embedded in but additional to those of competent teachers. They developed their specific expertise largely through in-service training and professional support structures, which emphasised collegiality and reflective learning. These findings provide an original theoretical model for behaviour support, in which core aims, activities and professional development of behaviour support teachers is underpinned by a system of values reflected both in the casework and in-service context, and derived from the common experience of negative features, which characterise "the situation we're dealing with," "what needs to be done, " and "what we need to do it." These findings and conclusions have had important implications for the researcher, informing her ongoing work as the leader of a large multidisciplinary team, and as a key contributor to LEA policy in Tower Hamlets. They also have original and important implications for the development of policy and practice in behaviour support, for the professionalisation of the behaviour support role, and the development of appropriate training frameworks.

Stephen Goss and Pia Dinesen

Professional Role: Research Development Managers
Institution: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Contact details: 1 Regent Place, Rugby CV21 2PJ
Email: pia.dinesen@bacp.co.uk and stephen_goss@bacresearch.freeserve.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Poster

The Character of Counsellors: Initial Findings From The BACP Membership Survey

Aim

The aim of this survey was to gather information to characterise the BACP membership according to key factors of importance in the current climate, especially with regard to the forthcoming statutory regulations.

Design

After consultations and piloting, the questionnaire was distributed with the October issue of CPJ to all our members. A database and counts reports supplied by a Data Capture Company was analysed by the BACP Research Department.

Findings

It was found that most counsellors are experienced at their work, a relatively highly qualified group with a clear, well established commitment to CPD and that nearly half of those respondents who were not accredited are eligible for accreditation with BACP. BACP members are also clearly a diverse group representing a vast range of models in their training.

Follow-up

In response to the questions whether the received sample (response-rate 20%) is representative of the total BACP population a follow up survey on a random sample of the whole individual membership is underway.

Conclusion

The results are encouraging as they show high levels of qualifications amongst BACP members and suggest that BACP and its membership will be in a strong position with regard to possible forthcoming statutory regulations of the profession.

Stephen Goss           

Professional Role: Research Development Manager and Honorary Research Fellow, Strathclyde University
Institution: BACP and University of Strathclyde
Contact Details: 9 Lion Well Wynd, Linlithgow, West Lothian, EH49 7EL
Email: stephen_goss@bacresearch.freeserve.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Workshop

Strand: Funding

Getting Funding for Research

The purpose of this workshop is generate information on useful tips and methods for identifying the best sources of funding for research for those wishing to apply for funding for research projects from small scale practitioner based studies to large scale projects requiring large amounts of money.

As opposed to concentrating on fixed formulae for success or derivative "expert opinion", the workshop will draw upon the knowledge, experience, resources and creative suggestions of the participants. Those with direct experience of any aspect of the research funding process will therefore be especially welcome. Questions to be considered may include:

• What are the major sources of funding?;
• Other sources of funding - trusts, companies, etc: who are they and how to find out about others?
• How to get the money out of them: top tips for writing applications
• What are the most important things you should know before applying for research funding?

The workshop will allow maximum time for input and discussion from delegates. A brief presentation to raise some issues of importance will be followed by debate and discussion.

The results of this workshop will be used to directly influence the work of BACP and may be made available to those wishing to apply for research funding.

Pamela Griffiths

Professional Role: Lecturer and Course Leader MSc Counselling in Healthcare and Rehabilitation
Institution: Dept of Health and Social Care, Brunel University
Contact details: Dept of Health & Social Care, Brunel University, Borough Road, Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 5DU
Email: pamela.griffiths@brunel.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Therapist Relationships

Testimony as a Form of Remembrance

This paper presents the initial findings of a study exploring the psychological process of giving a testimony. Several archives in the USA, Israel, Germany and the UK have recognised the value of testimony, primarily as a means to record, and communicate recent history. However the experience of giving a testimony for the testifier has been neglected. Twelve survivors of the Holocaust, who have given one or more testimonies, are being interviewed in order to understand the extent to which giving a testimony is a healing process. The transcribed interviews are analysed by the use of case-study and narrative analysis. Field notes and the researcher's personal journal also contribute to the data. The relationship between being a researcher and being a psychotherapist is considered. Issues arising for the participants are discussed. These include: the drive to tell 'the story', the impossibility of describing the 'undescribable', the fear of not being believed, the nature of memory, re-unifying identity, relationship to family and friends and the context of later life. It is hoped that the outcomes of the study will provide insights into the ways of working therapeutically with people who have long-term traumatic memories, as well as an increased understanding of the testimony process.

Jan Grove

Professional Role: Supervisor
Institution: Relate
Contact details: 1 Stratfield Saye, 20/22 Wellington Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8JN
Email: jangrove@freenet.co.uk

ABSTRACT: Paper

Strand: Client Concerns

Therapeutic Help for Troubled Same Sex Relationships

Overall Aim of Study

This study aimed to learn more about how to support and help same sex couples therapeutically through listening to the experiences of gay men and lesbians.

Summary of Method

Qualitative data was collected from single sex focus groups (six men and nine women) that each met twice. An initial broad question was used asking the group to reflect on issues that had arisen in their relationships and what had been or might be therapeutic.

Focus groups offer opportunities to develop ideas and themes that might not occur in individual interviews and different themes emerged in the two gender groups.

The data was analysed using the constant-comparative method and the emerging themes used as the basis for writing up this research.

Summary of Findings

• The lack of role models and stages of development for the relationship creates difficulties and increases the importance of communication and negotiation between partners.
• The risks of not being accepted and understood, and exposing the sexual orientation of both partners when coming out to a heterosexual person, and the destructive impact of secrecy on the relationship.
• The lack of recognition of same sex relationships within a heterosexist society.
• The dilemma when seeking help for the relationship - needing to feel understood yet wanting choice of expertise, confidentiality and gender.

Conclusions

• Couple counsellors need to develop an understanding of the issues facing gay and lesbian couples so that sexual orientation is neither ignored, nor seen as the source of the couple problems.
• Stages of development for relationships and their importance in relation to gender needs further research.
• Couple counsellors need to develop confidence in helping the couple to communicate effectively in any area of their relationship.
• Key