Whilst the literature underpinning counselling psychology generally acknowledges that values and ethics are inherent in therapy1, the different ways in which they feature and to what effect are under-explored areas. Though therapeutic literature would seem to recommend that counselling psychologists take a critically reflexive approach to values and ethics, the extent to which counselling psychology training engenders this kind of thinking is unclear. This research project therefore set about examining the ways in which values and ethics were constructed in the talk of final year trainee counselling psychologists discussing values and ethics in counselling psychology training and practice. Four focus groups comprising a total of nineteen participants were conducted and transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using Willig’s (2008) six-stage approach to Foucauldian discourse analysis, identifying and exploring the ways in which participants constructed values and ethics in counselling psychology training and practice. The analysis examined the implications of the different constructions identified for counselling psychology training and practice and the subjective experience of counselling psychologists within these contexts. Three discursive constructions of values and two of ethics were identified, drawing on four discourses. The use of each discourse produced its own effects, offering participants different subject positions with different consequences for their therapy practice and subjective experience. The relationship between contrasting constructions of values and ethics from within an institutional and a humanistic discourse dominated discussion and appeared to have greatest impact on participants’ practice and subjectivity. Tensions were experienced between the differing demands of the institutional and humanistic discourses, resulting in feelings of dissonance and discomfort, as participants tried to mediate between contrasting constructions in an attempt to forge a coherent sense of identity and practice involving both.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:570441 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Graham, Tom |
| Contributors | Rae, John ; Greenwood, Dennis |
| Publisher | University of Roehampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/values-and-ethics-in-counselling-psychology-training-and-practice(20d12e67-ae50-4f29-8b60-5c3bd0947ef4).html |
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