Therapy wars and pluralism: the road to peace?
This seminar will be an informal presentation, discussion and experiential exercise based on Jay's recent PhD research.
This involved interviewing 12 therapists of various orientations about how they ‘made sense of’ pluralistic approaches to therapy. Cooper & McLeod’s (2007/2012) articulation of a pluralistic ‘framework’ or approach for therapy suggested that different clients need different approaches at different times. This pluralistic approach might manifest within a therapist’s practice or more broadly might manifest, as a perspective, within service providers (e.g. the NHS) so that clients are offered choice of therapists and approaches and are actively encouraged to collaborate in decision-making around these issues.
These ideas are controversial because they raise problems around:
- The strong correlation between therapist identity and approach
- Flexible practice
- Differences of opinion around the assertion that all you need is ‘the relationship’.
Is collaboration with clients, accepting uncertainty, and identifying ‘common factors’ that ‘work’ the way forward?
Is there the prospect of peace in our time or just new arguments to add on top of the old ones?
And of course, the elephant in the room for many counsellors and psychotherapists, CBT, will also be discussed in relation to pluralistic approaches to therapy.
This event is organised by Sussex Counselling & Psychotherapy, for more information about this and other CPD events, please visit https://sussex-counselling.uk/