Therapy Today

Training
Becoming
a counsellor
Surprised to learn that little research evidence exists
to support the view that training has any impact on
therapeutic skill, Julie Folkes-Skinner was prompted
to undertake her own. Illustration by Geo Grandfield
Formal training in counselling and
psychotherapy provides a gateway to
practice. Undertaking work with clients
without it would be regarded by most
therapists as unthinkable. Yet, little
research evidence exists to support
the view that training has any impact
on therapeutic skill. With the help of
a BACP Seed Corn grant, I have spent
the past five years engaged in research
which has attempted to begin to bridge
this gap between practice and evidence.
In this article I will provide an overview
of what I have found out about trainees’
experiences of training and the impact
it may have on the development of
therapeutic skill.
I began professional counsellor
training on a BACP accredited course
17 years ago. It not only changed my
career but it also changed me. Many
therapists I have known, and most
of the students I have worked with,
seem to have had a similar experience.
However, training is not just about
personal change. It differs from personal
therapy in one very important respect:
trainee therapists change because they
primarily want to be able to help other
people who are in distress, ie clients.
This is easy to take for granted, but
needs to be regarded as something quite
remarkable. So, at the heart of all training
programmes is this question: How can
we help students to become therapists?
From its inception, training has been
regarded as essential preparation for
practitioners. Consequently, not only
do trainees and trainers invest much
in the notion of training, but so do
clients, professional organisations,
and employers. It is assumed that those
therapists who have completed training
courses will be able to do the job they
have trained to do, competently and
safely. Therapists who fail in this regard
are often offered more training in the
hope that this will solve the problematic
aspects of their practice. Therefore, it
may come as a surprise to learn that
the research evidence in relation to
therapist training is both ‘meagre’
and ‘inconsistent’. 1
Research into training
In 2004, Larry Beutler 2 and his colleagues
reviewed the previous 20 years of training
research and concluded that ‘the overall
findings cast doubt on the idea that
specific training in psychotherapy is
related to therapeutic success or skill’.
More recently, Ronnestad and Ladany 3
have suggested that the belief that
training has no effect on therapist
development is probably unfounded,
not because research evidence exists
that contradicts Beutler’s conclusion,
but because the majority of studies have
often been flawed in their design and so,
therefore, have their findings. They also
state that the researcher who undertakes
work in this area will be met with
‘formidable methodological challenges’.
There are some examples of more
rigorous research into therapist training
but only a few of these have investigated
the impact of professional training on
trainees 4 and even fewer have attempted
to examine the experience of trainees
whilst in training. 5, 6 The absence of
such research prompted me to undertake
my own. I decided to focus on two basic
questions: 1) How do trainee therapists
change? and 2) What helps them to
change?
The study
From the outset it was clear that the only
way to answer these research questions
was to use a variety of methods.
Following a pilot study, the findings
of which have recently been published
in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Research, 7 a nested study design was
20 Therapy Today/www.therapytoday.net/November 2010