The main purpose of the research was to explore factors that facilitate learning in psychodynamic counselling courses. The psychodynamic approach has no intrinsic theory of learning. The research approach was therefore conceptualised from a sociocultural model to enable an understanding of students’ learning within the social concept of the course. The learning environments were Higher Education psychodynamic counselling courses at two UK Universities. Eight adult students were encouraged to use qualitative judgements and personal views and reflections on what supported or constrained their learning during the course of their studies. Data were collected at important points across four years of study and analysed from a critical understanding of sociocultural theories (Vygotsky, 1934, 1962) and psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapeutic theories (Freud, 1963). Results are presented for a qualitative study from snapshots in time in the light of these seminal theorists’ work as well as more modern theorists’ application of historic thought to modern circumstance. Nine dominant themes emerged from data analysis, which related to students’ personal development. These themes were: autonomy; self-changes; closeness; encouragement/ discouragement; individual learning process; ambivalence about judging the tutor; private life; self-esteem and confidence. The over-arching theme that emerged was the tutor-student relationship, understandable in sociocultural constructivist terms as enabling learning within a zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986) and in psychodynamic terms as provision of a secure base from which students journeyed towards autonomous independent learning. The outcome suggests that eliciting and analysing students’ views may be important when planning and teaching counselling training in order to meet students’ individual learning needs. The originality of this research lies in its use of elements of the two paradigms to create lenses in an innovative way. A sociocultural constructivist framework has been used through which to understand psychodynamic counselling learning and training.

Background and Literature: Technology is slowly but surely finding its way into the therapy room. As such, it is moving from the position of being used to aid therapy, such keeping notes on a computer, to being used to facilitate therapy such as online counselling. The sub-type of online counselling known as internet relay chat is a form of counselling that relies solely upon text alone; having no visual or audial cues to aid the therapy and is what this study focuses on. The therapeutic use of self is a difficult concept to define even 55 years after being first introduced. It is a concept that pervades all therapeutic approaches in some way and can be referred to as the planned use of personality, insights, perceptions, and judgments as part of the therapeutic process. It is therefore an important part of therapeutic work with five types of use of self being identified in the literature: use of personality, use of belief system, use of relational dynamics, use of anxiety and use of self-disclosure. However, prior to completing this study it was unknown as to how this core skill could be translated to internet relay chat. Methodology: Eight participants provided transcripts from 20-minute long internet relay simulated counselling sessions. These sessions were part of a training exercise with participants being students from the University of Manchester who were practising online counselling with each other. This study was a mixed-methods study following an explanatory sequential design. The first quantitative stage was a directed content analysis that coded the transcripts for therapeutic uses of self. The second stage was a qualitative grounded theory analysis that analysed semi-structured interviews that looked at the reasons behind why the uses of self from the first stage were used and their perceived impact. Findings: The directed content analysis found that therapeutic uses of self could indeed be translated within this medium with 53 occurrences of self-disclosure, 45 uses of relational dynamics and 15 uses of personality. There were no examples of use of belief system or use of anxiety within this study. The grounded theory analysis resulted in 463 open codes, which were organised under the core category of therapeutic use of self online. This was succeeded by 7 axial codes which were, Conducting Research, Context of Internet Relay chat, Impact of Using Uses of Self, Patterns of Behaviour, Reasons for Using Uses of Self or Not, Therapeutic Use of Self and Impact of Training Exercise. Discussion and Conclusions: The use of self differed from the way it is reported to be used in the participant's face-to-face work and the compensatory techniques used proved similar to those found in the existing literature. It is recommended that that this is a useful exercise for trainee counselling psychologists to undertake as part of their training. This holds value as not all participants knew what a therapeutic use of self was, despite their importance within therapy. It is also beneficial due to the shift in communication we as a society are experiencing.

The central investigative concern of this thesis is the culture of genetic counselling in Canada--a specialized health service providing information and assistance to families at risk from genetic disorders. In particular, this study describes the variability that exists in the way in which genetic counsellors view their profession and explores the factors that contribute to this variability. The genetic counsellors' training, division of roles, view of their responsibility toward clients, and the historical and contemporary context in which they practise contribute to understanding the "individuals' versions of the culture of [genetic counselling]'' (Hahn 1985:53). Three means of inquiry are utilized: extensive library research, responses from a Canada-wide questionnaire sent to genetic counsellors, and ethnographic interviews. The history of genetic counselling has been described as a series of changes from research to medicine to psychosocial concerns. Current definitions of adequate genetic care, however, stress attention to both the medical genetic and psychosocial aspects of genetic disorders suggesting that both a medical and a psychosocial paradigm now exist in genetic counselling. I argue that the association between these two paradigms is unclear, thus producing tension and ambiguity for practitioners. Genetic counsellors divide themselves into three groups--MD/MD-PhDs who are the central caregivers, PhD geneticists who are primarily involved in research, and nonMDs/nonPhDs such as nurses, social workers and master's level genetic associates who are often doing clinic-oriented clerical jobs. Nevertheless, indicative of the uneasy relationship between the paradigms of genetic counselling, considerable debate exists in the field about who should be providing genetic counselling. A further example of this paradigmatic tension concerns the implementation of genetic counselling goals, especially for physician geneticists, the central caregivers. In particular, genetic counsellors face the problematic task of "doing something" for their clients, making them aware of their options, without influencing the client's decision making. The contemporary context of genetic counselling is predominantly a medical one; although psychosocial concerns are acknowledged as important for adequate genetic care, the means for dealing with them are not clear. I suggest that the response to the underlying tensions in genetic counselling is ultimately an individually-constructed response, based on the individual practitioner's experience, interpretation of the facts, and notion of the boundaries of their responsibility in medicine. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This exploratory study examined outcomes of single telephone counselling calls, with a self-selected sample of 38 clients from a family counselling agency. The sample was interviewed by telephone at two days and six weeks after the call to assess crisis counselling outcomes in affect, identification of the problem and action taken, and client equilibrium. Repeated measures of the 'perceptual concordance' of counsellor and client were taken over a period of six weeks, assessing levels of concordance between client and counsellor about perceptions of counselling, and client equilibrium. The sufficiency of a single counselling session was also assessed. 'Perceptual concordance' was suggested by reduced client stress, high levels of agreement between client and counsellor in the identification of the problem and agreed action, and satisfaction with the counselling. Positive indicators of restored client equilibrium included a maintenance of lower stress levels, changes in behaviour, improvement in perceptions of the seriousness of the problem, satisfaction with life and with the counselling. Further research of equilibrium as a concept, and an indicator of crisis resolution is warranted. The sufficiency of a single session of counselling was supported by 56% of clients. The variety of services used by clients as an outcome of the counselling suggests that it could be beneficial for telephone counselling agencies to offer a follow-up call. Verifying the agreed action and assessing equilibrium could be useful indicators of effective telephone counselling.

Professional counselling is scarcely available and hardly affordable for the vast majority of the South African society. However, clergy could be a source of help available for those who may not afford treatment expenses for consulting psychologists and psychiatrists. This study looked at the role that clergy working in pastoral situations in a mainline church in the province of KwaZulu-Natal play in the provision of mental health. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 52 licensed clergy investigating the types of problems presented to clergy, how clergy respond to their parishioners’ emotional and psychological problems, and how confident and how competent they feel in dealing with the problems presented to them. It investigated factors that enhance and hinder the helping process. To analyze and interpret the data, a series of statistical procedures were run using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and qualitative content analysis. Findings indicated that a wide variety of emotional and psychological problems were presented to clergy, including bereavement, alcohol or substance abuse, marital conflict, divorce and relationship problems. Clergy had a very positive attitude towards their role in counselling, and its importance in their ministry; however, the training of clergy has been considered insufficient to meet the needs of parishioners with emotional and psychological problems. Clergy reported a high level of perceived self-efficacy that seemed inconsistent with the training clergy have in emotional and psychological difficulties. Clergy tended to refer more severe psychological difficulties to either government, Non-Governmental Organisations or Faith-Based Organisations for specialised intervention. No formal support was reported to be available to clergy who engage in counselling although a large proportion of clergy mentioned getting support from fellow priests. The discussion of findings is focussed on empowering clergy to continue providing counselling for common emotional and psychological difficulties for their parishioners. Clergy may be a valuable resource in promoting mental health of their community members. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

No abstract available / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Counselling and coaching use specialised skills to help individuals address problems and make a positive change (Egan, 2010). Whilst sharing many commonalities with counselling, the coaching industry has endeavoured to define boundaries between the helping approaches to establish discrete areas of practice. However, rather than observe theoretical boundaries, many coaches rely on personal experience to idiosyncratically define boundaries in practice (Maxwell, 2009; Price 2009). The reliance on experience to inform practice judgements has significant implications for novice coaches. Without the advantage of contextual knowledge to assist with identifying boundaries, it is important that newly trained coaches are aware of working within their competency to ensure good practice. To investigate whether clear boundaries could be identified, a mixed-methods approach was used to explore novice coaches’ and experienced coaches’ and counsellors’ experiences of working with the boundaries between the helping approaches. Study one incorporated a survey and Interpretative phenomenological analysis of interview transcripts to investigate novice coaches’ perceptions of boundaries. Study two utilised a survey design to gain a broad understanding of experienced counsellors’ and coaches’ perspectives, while Study three involved an in-depth analysis of the experiences of 20 coaches and counsellors working with boundaries between coaching and counselling in practice. Findings from the first study indicated novices’ confusion and inconsistencies when identifying the differences between the approaches. The results suggested that newly trained coaches may work beyond their competencies when working with mental health problems in practice. Results from studies with experienced practitioners indicated that there is a large overlap between the helping approaches and identified different ways of working with boundaries. Some practitioners were adamant that boundaries should be preserved between coaching and counselling. However, a third of practitioners surveyed indicated that integrating approaches would be beneficial to meet the clients’ needs. The thesis illustrates practitioners’ concerns relating to the content and provision of coach training programmes and offers recommendations that aim to encourage a review of minimum standards in coach education. In addition, collaboration between coaching and counselling professional bodies is suggested to establish ethical guidelines for coaches and counsellors who wish to blend coaching and counselling practice.

The focus of this study is on how counselling psychologists and other therapists interpret psychodynamic ideas. There is a dearth of qualitative work addressing this issue, particularly from the practitioner perspective. This study adopted a social constructionist version of Grounded Theory. Twelve volunteer therapist participants were interviewed (six counselling psychologists and six therapists accredited by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)). Therapists had a wide range of experience but all had at least one year of training in psychodynamic theory. The analysis produced a grounded theory that suggests a tension between realist and social constructionist epistemological stances to psychodynamic theories. An unquestioning use of psychodynamic ideas persisted whereby these theories remained uncontested and were spoken about as if they were indicative of reality. This alternated with a reflective use of psychodynamic ideas where a theory was seen as one explanation among many. A tension was apparent as therapists spoke from these epistemologically opposed stances. This tension was expressed through the demonstration of being drawn to use psychodynamic ideas unquestioningly as they seem to abate anxiety and provide a sense of professionalism and expertise. The benefits of thinking objectively about psychodynamic ideas draw therapists into speaking of them in this way, even when this approach was not in line with the their epistemological stance at other points in time. The tension seems to result from societal demands and contextual pressures as well as the inter-relational discourse with the researcher. It is suggested that practitioners in the field of counselling psychology as well as by practitioners accredited with the UKCP and BACP experience this phenomenon. Length of experience in practice did not play a significant factor in how therapists conceptualise psychodynamic ideas. A discussion of the implication of these findings and the potential for future research is also explored.

Submitted in part fulfillment of the requirements for PhD (Community Psychology) in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / Learners need effective school-based Guidance and Counselling Services to assist them with their developmental and situational needs. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the extent to which Guidance-Counselling Program is implemented in secondary schools in line with South African Education White Paper 6 of 2001 and ACSA Performance Standards. The study further intended to capacitate educators and Guidance counsellors with knowledge and skills on how to develop and maintain effective Comprehensive and Integrated Guidance-Counselling Services in their institutions. A sample of 153 educators and 130 learners was selected from secondary schools in Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. Secondary schools that received (orientation) training on SA Education White Paper 6 from the researcher were compared with those who did not receive such training. Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of structured and semi-structured questions. Responses from focus groups were content analyzed into themes and descriptive techniques were utilized. The Objective/Close-ended questions were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) (Version 17). x2 Tests were computed for categorical data and to analyze any differences, in relation to level implementation of Guidance-Counselling Program. The main finding of the study was that, secondary schools differ significantly on how they implement Life Orientation, Guidance and Counselling activities. Furthermore, there is a perfect relationship among secondary school learners and educators on how they perceive the Guidance-Counselling Services within their respective institutions. The need for Comprehensive and Integrated Guidance-Counselling Program Model, clear guidelines and performance standards cannot therefore be overlooked. If this program is effectively implemented, it may contribute substantially towards excellent academic results, improved psychological well-being, and production of matured and responsible future citizens.

An extensive literature search reveals the profound lack of research on specialist professionals’ perspective on clinical work with asylum-seekers and refugees. This study explores the manner in which practitioners’ clinical experience with asylum-seekers and refugees informs the way they make sense of their professional identity. It is the first study undertaken in the UK that investigates the notion of professional identity among practitioners who work with this client population. Drawing on a social constructionist epistemology and a Foucauldian theoretical and methodological framework of power and discourse, I analyse extracts from semi-structured interviews that I conducted with eight specialist professionals who have provided therapeutic work to asylum-seekers and refugees. I explore how professional practices related to clinicians’ work, as well as legislative policies around asylum fall within a broader spectrum of regulatory discourses, interact and shape practitioners’ professional identity within a postmodern migration context. The findings of this study suggest that the notion of professional identity among these practitioners envelops a social and political activist stance and a deep sense of commitment towards helping and promoting social change within the wider community. Likewise, clinical work with refugees combines professional knowledge and values with a politicised involvement that fosters a psychosocial perspective on clients’ distress, takes into account the socio-political parameters of refugees’ trauma and allows practitioners to contextualise their distress and difficulties without pathologizing them. These findings are useful for professionals who work in the field of clinical practice and who conduct or consider conducting clinical work with refugees and clients that have multifaceted social and psychological needs and difficulties, as well as with clients from different socio-cultural backgrounds.