We live in a multicultural, globalised world, in which counsellors and psychotherapists are increasingly required to work across languages and cultures. Existing literature, however, focuses largely on the needs and experiences of foreign clients, often overlooking the other half of the therapeutic dyad. This thesis tackles the under-researched area of foreign practitioners who work in a host environment. Given the ongoing cultural enrichment of counsellor education in Britain and the demanding character of counselling training in general, this work focuses on one sub-group of this population, namely counsellors in training. To that end, this thesis explores foreign counselling trainees’ experiences of practising in a second language and culture. Underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology, methodologically this project draws upon the principles of Smith, Flowers and Larkin’s (2009) Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The investigation consists of two empirical studies based on semi-structured interviews with A) non-native speaking and B) native speaking, foreign trainees in their counselling placement. This research design aims to investigate the phenomenon of beginning intercultural counselling from a holistic perspective rather than compare the two groups’ experiences. Overall, findings reveal the numerous ways in which linguistic and cultural difference influence trainees’ experiences of beginning intercultural/interlinguistic practice. The experience of difference appears to mainly impact on trainees’ practitioner identity rather than their perception of practice. Despite the complexities participants encounter, their accounts expose self-efficacy, revealing a position of viewing ‘deficit’ as advantageous. Moreover, findings indicate that the more ‘tangible’ difference is, the more readily trainees acknowledge and discuss its presence in counselling practice. This is largely related to intersubjectivity and encounters with others during training and practice. At the same time, participants’ accounts demonstrate that ‘nativeness/non-nativeness’ is not purely a matter of linguistic mastery, but largely intertwined with familiarity with the host culture. To that end, this thesis proposes that counsellor education ought to address difference, and non-nativeness in particular, from a broader perspective, advance the support provided to foreign trainees and provide opportunities for discussion that will promote all trainees’ cultural awareness.

The University of ManchesterSandra TaylorDoctor of PhilosophyThe Reciprocal Influence Of Person Centred Counselling Students And Trainers2013This research has explored the reciprocal influence of counselling students and trainers in the UK, through the researcher’s lens of being a Person Centred trainer. The methodology evolved into relational heuristic research, an adaptation of heuristic research which is itself a contribution to knowledge. It is a qualitative approach that holds the researcher/trainer’s heuristic experience as its core whilst including and valuing the experience of others. Six pairs of former counselling students and trainers were interviewed together, followed by eight interviews between the researcher and her former students. The interviews provided the opportunity for the co-creation of a coherent story of their reciprocal influence and enabled clarification, corroboration, disagreement, memory jogging, and the emergence of surprises. Participants in the six interviews were gained through the researcher’s professional networks and so were convenience sampling. The eight former students were from the 22 invited whom the researcher had worked with two years previously. As is typical of heuristic research the analysis was a long, iterative and creative process of incubation and illumination.The main finding, available only because of the former students and trainers being interviewed together, is the uniqueness, complexity and richness of counselling student-trainer relationships. The three other substantial findings are: the huge impact of the transferential/countertransferential relationship between students and trainers; the nuances of liking and favouritism between students and trainers; and an invaluable insight into challenges and difficulties within the student-trainer relationship and their impact.In addition to the findings and discussion the researcher also offers a creative synthesis and a summary of learning, not to be turned into general principles and procedures but for each reader to resonate with their own experiences and see what does and doesn’t fit. This is in keeping with the complexity and uniqueness of experience found in the research. Specific contributions of this research for past, present and future counselling students and trainers as well as for course development are also discussed.

No / Gerard Egan's problem management and opportunity development model is currently in use training prospective counsellors, social workers, nurses, managers, etc. the skills of helping. This essay attempts, experimentally, to depict in three different ways Egan's work and its relationship to operations of power: (1) from a relatively uncritical stance, (2) from a personal experience stance, and (3) from a social constructionist perspective. The whole piece, taken together, attempts to tackle the issue of theory as practice ¿ to ground/unmask/make present the ways in which we are socialised into a profession and the problems inherent in that process. Two themes run through the work: the double bind created for a student on a counselling course which makes some claim to train around Rogers' core conditions, and which is also assessed/accredited; the connections between theory, training and practices.