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research conference 2000 index of presentations | abstracts | evaluation Evaluation Report The following feedback, prepared by the Counselling Research Training Group at the University of Manchester, is the result of evaluation forms completed by 53% of the conference delegates. All rating scores were on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Overall satisfaction, quality and structure Overall the delegates were very satisfied with the conference with an average satisfaction score of 8.4 out of 10. The quality of the venue received an encouraging average rating of 8.5 out of 10, and the average score for the structure of the conference was 8.1 out of 10. These scores were all up from last year. (More details in Table 1. below). Presentations (Five parallel presentation-strands were running throughout the four sessions of the day) The paper-presentations (two papers in each session) and the workshops (one in each session) were very well received with all but two of the days 20 different sessions being rated with an average score above 7.0 out of 10. On average the overall score for all the presentations was higher than last year. (More details in Table 1. below). Most helpful part of the conference (open ended questions) When asked what was most helpful and why, the delegates replied with comments like: "Networking" (13) "Meeting other researchers and practitioners getting a feel of different research approaches and increasing [my] knowledge base" "Sense of collaboration" "Well presented, thoughtful and thought provoking papers made all sessions interesting and useful" "The diversity of styles, agendas and positions taken up by presenters/participants" "Very well constructed and put together, well done" "Excellent services from BACP staff" Suggestions for the research conference 2001 There were a few suggestions for improvements: A few delegates wanted a more critical discussion of papers but others welcomed the opportunity offered for those new to research to present as well. Several wanted more time in between papers, including tea breaks and more time for discussion, networking, and a number wanted the abstracts in advance of the conference. Nearly all agreed that May was a good month to hold the conference. However, many wanted more time for the conference including a majority (41/32) that thought the next conference should be a 2-day event. NB: It has now been decided that Research Conference in Bristol next year is going to be a two-day event to be held on the 18 and 19 May 2001. Conclusion This was the sixth and largest BACP Counselling Research Conference held so far with over 140 people attending. The 35 papers and 3 workshops presented were rated fairly high and overall very high satisfaction with the conference was expressed. The BACP Research and Evaluation Committee will carefully consider the feedback on the conference as part of its planning for next years event. Evaluation of 2000 Research Conference (satisfaction scores on a scale from 1 to 10)
Participants' Reports The following report, written by Gill Leach, was first published in the AUCC Newsletter and Journal, Issue 3, August 2000. Report on the BACP Research Conference 20 May 2000 Gill
Leach, Thurrock College Introduction This year the BACP Research Conference was held in the excellent new conference centre at UMIST, Manchester. The programme was a very full one, with a wide range of topics. I chose papers with four different themes, as follows: Session 1 Theme: Theoretical issues and communication Royston Flude (University of Manchester) gave a paper on Psychology v counselling - different sides of the same coin? Royston focused mainly on his view of the relationship between psychological therapies and counselling, but he also touched briefly on research which has compared the effectiveness of different therapeutic approaches. I liked the way his theoretical model integrates the two approaches. I agree with his view that, in reality, there can be a considerable overlap in the style of both: any perceived differences tend to stem from their historical origins and both counsellors and psychotherapists are likely to work at a range of levels with their clients, whatever their model. Royston discussed the pyramid of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs/aspects of personality, and pondered whether in the past counsellors may have focused more on the spiritual and emotional, 'humanistic' aspects, whereas psychotherapists may have focused more on the mental and physical aspects, (matching the medical, structured, time-limited approach). His emphasis on the therapeutic goal of aligning the therapy to the client's preferred style of decision-making resonates with the educational goal of aligning teaching to the student's preferred style of learning. This was a reflective, philosophical presentation. David Lane (Professional Development Foundation, London) was a charismatic speaker on Does counselling research have anything to contribute to the major issues facing society? David
has a highly effective way of engaging the listener, and offered
persuasive arguments for his team's approach to research. He suggested
the traditional trawl of the literature, to find a gap in the 'market',
could lead to an enquiry that was too theoretically based, and that
a more effective and energizing route could be to start at the grassroots:
assemble a group of practitioners working in the field; ask them
what issues concern them; discuss how to research these issues; then
carry out a literature search. David's team identified key factors which staff and students need to make them feel safe. I particularly liked one factor he focused on - being able to identify one's need for support without blame (for staff as well as students). His research suggests that in an effective environment people are more able to say what they are not doing well. This was quite a 'political' presentation which demonstrated very well how entwined social and counselling issues can be. Session 2 Theme: Processes and developments The first speaker was Brenda Mallon, (counsellor in private practice) whose title was Dreams, counselling and healing. Brenda is a relaxed communicator, who conveyed her enthusiasm for listening to dreams very well. She has collated material on 900 dreams recounted by women. Brenda compared the 'commonsense' understanding we have of dreams with possible deeper explorations. She often asks people to draw dreams, and sometimes they will bring a sequence of dream drawings which chart their developmental journey. She described dreams as an 'inner knowingness', a source of healing, and sometimes a significant part of the preparation for dying (at which point a companion may appear in the dream). This was a thoughtful case presentation. Nigel Hamilton (Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education, London) followed with a talk called Dreams as an indication of spiritual/personal growth: exploring a new model. He had some interesting things to say about dreams presenting measurable aspects of personality change and the significance of different colours in dreams (relating them to different levels of self): turning within (dark, earthy colours), subtle self (pastels), transcendent state (gold), awake in life (red). Nigel described the seven levels of self, linking dream quality to the instinctual self, alive self, introverted self, masculine/feminine self, religious self, 'white' self and transcendent self. It was an interesting talk but I wondered whether it focused a little too much on his interpretation of the meaning of one person's dreams? Session 3 Theme: Workshop 2 After lunch I went to the workshop run by Richard Evans (The Metanoia Institute), on the use of CD Roms: First clients - a further step in exploring the potential of self study CD Roms in learning counselling skills. Richard and his colleague showed us how his group have made CD Roms to assist the teaching of counselling skills. Their research has focused on how people develop the working alliance. We had the chance to use the CD Roms ourselves, and watched a new client working with a therapist, either with the therapist's voice-over discussing the process, or with the research group's voice-over and bullet points on the screen. He made the point that the session could have a number of different voice-overs from different theoretical orientations. Richard's system has the acronym Devski (Developing observational skills). He described a current research project where a group of student counsellors were divided into a) the Devski group and b) control group. The latter just watched clips of client and counsellor and were asked to rate the process as they saw it happening (with no prior training). The Devski group were shown a demo CD Rom with the voice-overs first and then asked to observe the same process. Their responses were rated and compared. The results showed a significance difference between the two groups. The Devski group were very positive about the increased awareness they developed. He focused on the development of his team's research technique and the application of the CD Rom method in some detail. This was the presentation which most closely matched my expectation of the purpose of a research conference because Richard allowed interactive discussion about his team's methods during the presentation, rather than asking for questions only at the end. (One participant picked up this point in the plenary and asked for a more vigorous debate of papers). Session 4 Theme: Ethical issues and counsellor relationships There were two eye-catching titles on this theme. David Tune (freelance counsellor, Wivenhoe) talked about his current research project on The therapeutic use of touch in counselling and psychotherapy. He said some interesting things about how counsellors responded to his questionnaire on their use of touch. Some were initially very reticent, but upon probing revealed quite a lot of touching. This was a brave topic to choose in a fairly taboo area for 'mainstream' counsellors (who almost always told him that their training had actively discouraged touching, for the obvious safety reasons). I liked his presentation, which combined sensitivity with searching analysis of what was really going on, based on his analysis of the responses to his questionnaires. The final paper, presented by Susan Sussman (Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education) was on The significance of psycho-peristalsis and tears within the context of transpersonal counselling and psychotherapy. Susan's research is qualitative - a series of case studies and self study, where she focused on the messages received from the activity of the gut. She talked about the discovery of neurotransmitters in the gut wall, which have been labelled as a second 'brain'. She also explored what she called 'sacred weeping' and described its transformative function and its relationship with the gut responses. Susan described her work as an enquiry about inner revelation - involving processes of engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, exploration and creative synthesis. Her paper was very well received, and the relevance of somatic difficulties to the well-being of the psyche attracted active discussion, as something which counsellors could use more in their work. Conclusion In summary, things I gained from this day were:
My only criticisms were:
This was a useful and enjoyable day. I hope this brief outline will encourage other counsellors who are wondering about starting a research project to attend future research conferences organized by BACP and AUCC. The following report, was written by Shane Buckeridge, a member of the Faculty of Healthcare Counsellors and Psychotherapists Executive Committee. Report of the 6th Annual BACP Research Conference at University of Manchester 20 May 2000 By Shane Buckeridge The Conference was opened by Stephen Goss (Chair of BACP Research Committee) who welcomed the 140 delegates and presenters. Craig McDevitt, Chair of BACP gave a welcome address in which he said that the Conference was one of the highlights of the BACP calendar. He went on to say that our ability to research marks our maturity as a profession. He also said that research should not only evaluate the quality of what we do but also to push forward the boundaries of what we do. He highlighted the importance of sharing our research findings with our members as well as our clients. Professor Mel Ainscow, Research Dean of Education, University of Manchester discussed the importance of linking theory with practice and maintaining an interface between the two. Reflective Practitioners, he said, are crucial in constantly developing better ways of working. He went on to discuss a new kind of research that needs different methodology as there is a danger that research may become too narrowly defined. Stephen Goss then discussed the importance of the conference and of people joining the research network that aims to provide a forum for Counsellors to link with others interested in the same areas. Following this there was a brief poster presentation in which the following speakers used one minute to discuss their work:
Following this there were presentations in smaller groups in which 34 papers were presented over the course of the day. As representative for FHCP I chose to attend more Primary-Care based papers:
Furthermore regarding creating a successful environment for pupils with behavioural difficulties should include the following: An environment in which:
He found that:
Following this Nancy Rowland discussed the Cochrane Review on Counselling in which a number of researchers attempted a systematic search of Counselling studies that would fulfil the rigours of Cochrane criteria. In the end there were just four that fulfilled them covering approximately 500 patients. The common findings in all four were that:
(e) In the final session, David Mair discussed a Qualitative study he had carried out entitled "Gay men's' Experience of Counselling" in which he noticed that there was a danger that heterosexual Counsellors could overlook important aspects of gay men's' lives, notably issues of sexuality and different cultural norms. He highlighted the importance of having a substantial input into these issues as part of Counsellor training if attitudes and beliefs were to change. Jan Hordern presented a paper entitled "Inner Masculine and Feminine in relation to Soul, Spirit and Living creatively. In this she explored Jungian archetypes of the inner male and female side based upon qualitative research of eight people. The Conference was closed with a plenary session in which feedback was taken from the floor about the day and ways forward for future conferences. Stephen Goss also mentioned that BACP are hoping to offer bursaries for Counselling research and details of this will be made available at a later date. Mention was also made about a new publication, Counselling Research which will be published quarterly. After a hectic and exhausting day I went home with many good intentions. Shane
Buckeridge Report by Gill Carding This report first appeared in The Association for Pastoral and Spiritual Care and Counselling Journal. I was impressed by the way the organisers structured a large number of diverse papers into a clear but fluid menu. I particularly enjoyed the juxta-position of seasoned authors with those fresh from their first sally into the academic world of research. Papers were grouped under eight headings, each comprising four papers. 'Spirituality' was one of the eight categories. There were also two papers from another section which included aspects of spirituality, one as a central theme and the other incidentally. I will briefly review these six papers. Dreams, counselling and healing by Brenda Mallon This research developed out of a long-term interest and an initial large scale study of women's dreams. It explores the beneficial effects of dreams and a full account of it is due to be published, in a book of the same title as the paper, in September 2000. The women found dreams helpful in a number of ways, one of which was classed as spiritual healing. There appeared to be two main types of experience in the spiritual area. One concerned being forgiven in a dream which led to a later sense of the person being able to 'let go' of past hurts and guilt and move on with their life. The other was almost the opposite process of moving on into death. Here the content of the dream was deceased loved ones appearing with elements of inviting, beckoning and waiting. Afterwards the person retained a lasting sense of reassurance, peace and reconnectedness with a beyond. Dreams as an indicator of spiritual/personal growth: exploring a new model by Nigel Hamilton This research originated in a study of the nature and content of dreams of people on spiritual retreat. From this a new transpersonal model of consciousness was postulated and published last year. A comparative study has since been completed with clients in a therapeutic setting. Four stages of transition were identified during the course of a retreat:
It was found that certain colours and images were characteristic of each stage. Seven levels of consciousness were identified across both groups moving from a physical/instinctual self through mental/emotional, loving/idealistic to religious and transcendent levels. The levels were probably more clearly identifiable on retreat due to reduced environmental and external influences. Spirituality in a secular profession by Deborah Short The researcher was primarily interested in exploring 'what is spirituality?' but secondarily, if and how the client's and counsellor's perception and experience of spirituality enter into and affect the therapeutic process. From the literature search spirituality, according to different authors, was about becoming fully human, wholeness and meaning as well as values, connectedness with self and other and self-transcendence. The methodology was qualitative using grounded theory techniques with descriptive data gathered from interviews with four co-researchers. Key themes that emerged were around the areas of mystery, relationship and suffering. Woven together these three stands suggest that the more in-depth therapy becomes, the larger its spiritual component. In conclusion, a number of questions were posed for future consideration:
Prayer and psychotherapy - an exploration of the therapeutic nature of Christian prayer and its possible use with Christian clients in secular psychotherapy by Peter Gubi This research approached some controversial topics in a direct but balanced manner. The research was carried out by qualitative interviews with seven counselling trainers. The psychological implications of prayer, both benefits and dangers, were looked at in terms of attachment therory, eg, on the positive side, belief in a communication with God as an absolute attachment figure serves as an antidote to anxiety; on the negative side, such faith in an omnipotent spiritual entity can be used as a defence to avoid resolving internal conflicts. There were two ways in which prayer was used in counselling: i) COVERTLY where the counsellor prayed for the client before and after counselling sessions; ii) OVERTLY where verbal prayer was used between counsellor and client within the counselling session. This is more problematic because of the potential for abuse. Gubi concluded that prayer can be 'powerfully therapeutic' with certain clients, but a 'risky intervention'. Further investigation is needed into the methodology and ethical implications of using overt prayer in counselling. Towards a Pagan/Magickal approach to counselling by Estelle Seymour A lively and enlightening presentation in which the presenter started by challenging the audience's prejudices about the word 'Pagan'. She lamented the frequent, inaccurate association between paganism and evils such as satanic abuse. She went on to explain that paganism is a nature religion in which self-realisation is a central tenet. She described the original meaning of the word 'magickal' (note the spelling) as 'the art of causing changes to occur in consciousness'. Seymour contended that as spirituality begins to be acknowledged within the therapeutic encounter and there is a growth in respect for indigenous traditions within the helping professions, the Pagan world-view needs to be given validity alongside that of Christianity and other religions. The research was a small-scale ethnographic enquiry amongst the pagan/magickal community to assess the need for a pagan approach to therapy. There was evidence of some discrepancy between counsellors' and clients' opinions. The counsellors wished to, and believed they could, work generically. Clients however, were more likely to express a preference for a counsellor whom they know to be a pagan, thus holding a similar belief system to themselves. The study argued for the inclusion of the pagan viewpoint within a consideration of spirituality on counsellor training courses. A
phenomenological study of client's experiences of counselling in
a pastoral setting This was undertaken as part of an MA in person-centred counselling. The researcher was particularly interested in gaining the client's perception of counselling once therapy was completed. The pastoral setting in question was a therapeutic counselling service run by an Anglican diocese for church members. Four ex-clients took part in semi-structured interviews exploring the following questions:
Three of the four had previously had counselling with a secular agency and contrasted the two experiences. In accordance with established research, the qualities of the counsellor and of the therapeutic relationship established was paramount in the benefit the client deprived from counselling. Several common perceptions regarding the specific setting emerged:
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