Search

This paper examines the question of how counselling psychology might move forward into the future. It argues that, for many counselling psychologists, the defining feature of our profession lies in a humanistic value-base; and that, to move forward, we need to look at how that could be more fully actualised. The paper argues that this value-base is most succinctly expressed in Levinas's concept of 'Welcoming the Other,' and it proposes five ways in which this ethic might be taken forward: developing our capacity to see beyond diagnoses, enhancing our responsiveness, focusing more fully on our client's intelligibility, taking a lead in giving psychology away, and developing our evidence base. The paper concludes by suggesting that the key issue is not the survival of counselling psychology as a profession; but the survival, development and proliferation of this value-base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content & Focus: This paper aims to explore a number of key challenges raised by existential theory to the dominant assumptions, aims and practices within contemporary counselling psychology. It argues that the existential focus on relatedness significantly alters counselling psychology's understanding of, and ways of perceiving individuals as well as the concerns that are brought to the therapeutic encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that Counselling Psychology is underpinned by both Humanist and Post-Modern epistemologies, and that it holds the practitioner's 'use of self' in the service of the therapeutic relationship to be paramount in the therapeutic encounter. Although Humanism and Post-Modernism can both provide theoretical pretexts for the use of self, these stances to knowledge can be experienced as in conflict with each other, and so generate ambiguity and conflict for trainees. The academic (University) contexts of training courses can feed into aspects of these epistemological conflicts in that they uphold individualist-objectivist stances to knowledge/evidence and styles of communication. In this paper psychological literature is drawn upon to explore how trainees are positioned by the discourses of 'self and 'development' that are available to them, with particular reference to the discourse of 'reflective-practice'. The concept of a plural and dialogical self is used to suggest augmenting the manner in which personal and professional development is conducted and assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]