How do people learn best ? How do therapists learn best ? How do they learn best about communication, interaction, the helping relationship ? What kind of learning translates into therapeutic practice ? What kind of learning supports the reflective practitioner ?
Much counselling and psychotherapy training does not follow through its own therapeutic principles into its approach to learning, but borrows from established educational paradigms which tend to be devoid of psychological depth. But an emphasis on left-brain theoretical or academic knowledge, even if it is based on case material, has little helpful impact on our everyday practice. Such learning is often too linear to do justice to the complexities and immediacy of the therapeutic encounter. All workshops and events I am involved with are based on the following principles and recognitions regarding our learning process as practitioners (you will find below a paragraph on each of these, written to unpack a bit more what these mean to me): |
Applying therapeutic understanding to the learning process - the 'reflective practitioner'
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CPD Events coming up soon
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When we apply therapeutic concepts to the learning process itself, we can recognise it as a highly individual process, involving both personal and professional development. All courses, therefore, aim to provide space for both individual process and skills training, as well as theoretical and experiential learning in response to the group's developing needs. If we want to do justice to the notion of the 'reflective practitioner', our learning process (as therapists about therapy) needs to be consistent with our therapeutic beliefs and understanding.
Whole-person and experiential rather than theoretical or academic learning only
The learning on these events is a mixture of experiential, reflective, theoretical and practical, based on the recognition that psychological work is not mainly left-brain cognitive, but involves all of us - body, emotion, imagination and mind - and relies on right-brain to right-brain attunement between client and practitioner. For such training to translate to our everyday practice, it needs to engage our understanding, our own process and self-awareness in relation to our whole bodymind self, and be congruent with our developing identity both as a person and a professional.
Integrating and balancing individual and group process, exploration, theory and skills practice
The training events, therefore, provide a blend of structures, from pairwork, experiential exercises and skills practice in triads to role-plays and demonstrations. The learning is usually supported by theoretical input appropriate to the experience of the group, backed up by hand-outs, papers and references.
Work in pairs and triads will alternate with work in the middle of the group, in either role play format or live sessions. Often skills practice tends to benefit from frequent stops and starts; in order to maximise the learning in frequent action-reflection cycles, the practice sessions are often interspersed with and followed by feed-back, supervisory reflection and appropriate theoretical discussion.
Attention to individual learning style as well as pace and timing of learning process
In order to do justice to the variety of learning styles which participants bring to the events, there is usually a mixture of theoretical, practical and experiential learning, involving everybody at the level and to the degree that they are expecting and willing to engage. As we are dealing with what happens between people, the group itself provides a learning situation, with people learning from and with each other. Each participant's experience is therefore understood as a resource. Depending on the theme and the configuration of the group, we can pay attention to the unfolding group dynamic (and how it supports or hinders participants) as an aspect of the learning. Balancing attention to each participant's psychological and learning process with the group process and the task and objectives of the course is an important element in how I teach.
Like the work with a client, the learning process depends on pace and timing - in CPD courses this depends on the interaction in the group and the safety and readiness of everybody to participate and get involved.
It tends to be true that the more we get engaged and can allow exposure and take risks, the greater the learning. This needs to be balanced with attention to each individual's process, learning style and 'contact cycle' of engagement and withdrawal.
Learning as a process of organic integration rather than a linear 'funnel' method
Although there is a clear outline of topics and learning objectives to be covered, the courses are not usually structured in typical academic linear fashion. Too much counselling and psychotherapy training is based on the notion that a) there is a correct theory and correct technique, and b) if only the practitioner applies these correctly, everything will be fine and therapy will work as planned.
Most practitioners, and certainly most experienced practitioners, know that this is a fallacy. The therapeutic position constantly involves uncertainty, ambiguity and conflict - the therapist feels torn between conflicting therapeutic impulses and ideas, between different avenues to take, between opposing interpretations as to what is going on. Interventions often have a different - and sometimes the opposite - effect of what was intended.
"The client's conflict becomes the therapist's conflict" - what are the implications for our learning process ?
One of the basic principles of my teaching is that these conflicts and uncertainties are necessary - that there is something about the helping relationship that inevitably exposes the practitioner to internal conflict. The simple essence of that principle is: the client's conflict becomes the therapist's conflict. In psychoanalysis this has been called the 'countertransference revolution': the recognition that through attending to the conflicts in our internal process as therapists we can also gain access to aspects of the client's inner world. In this sense, the therapist's own experience in the therapeutic relationship can become - in Freud's words - a 'royal road' into the depth of the work. There cannot, therefore, be a simple, standard procedure that is right and correct with every client - nor even with one client. That kind of stance may work with inanimate objects, but not when confronted with another person and their subjectivity. This has serious implication for how we learn and teach counselling and therapy.
Recognition of the defensive functions of knowledge
As psychological practitioners we know that our client's beliefs - however valid and 'true' they may be in themselves - can serve a variety of emotional functions: they can enhance their lives or rationalise all kinds of misery, avoidances and pain. The same is true for us as practitioners: our therapeutic beliefs and models can enhance our practice, but they can also foster fixed assumptions which may interfere with our work. One aspect of continuing professional development is to keep exploring and reflecting upon our 'habitual position(s)' as therapists - those relational and theoretical stances which we may have inherited from our therapeutic forefathers and take for granted. All theories have, of course, a large kernel of validity which serves us well. The question is not so much whether a theory is 'true' or not, but what effect it has on us and our presence in the consulting room when we practice.
Who are these events and courses suitable for ?
Some of these events are advanced and designed for experienced practitioners only, but many of them are also suitable for helping professionals generally, including - for example - doctors, nurses and health visitors, complementary therapists as well as people working in human resources, management, coaching. If you want to make sure a particular course is appropriate, please do not hesitate to email me to discuss this.