Personal Consultancy

A model for integrating counselling and coaching

Nash Popovic, Debra Jinks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134695058
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy Counselling
• Index: Psychology

Making the case for an integrated approach to the practices of counselling, psychotherapy and coaching, Personal Consultancy provides a coherent and systematic framework for working with clients. Nash Popovic and Debra Jinks use their experience in the area of integrative practice to demonstrate how this wider approach can be a more comprehensive way of helping clients than coaching or counselling on its own.

The authors explain how a range of techniques and approaches from various one-to-one practices can be brought together under the framework of Personal Consultancy, creating a method that is systematic, ethical and professional but not limited by any particular theoretical bias or preconceptions. With chapters by guest authors who discuss their perspectives on the approach and its application across various contexts, Personal Consultancy demonstrates that it is possible to combine the reparative work normally associated with counselling with the more proactive, goal-oriented approach of coaching. The result is a method that allows clients to have their counselling and their coaching needs met within one relationship and which allows the practitioner more flexibility and freedom than when using a single approach.

Personal Consultancy will be essential reading for practicing coaches and counsellors, especially those already integrating the two approaches or those looking to do so, as well as students and those in training.

Part I

The Personal Consultancy framework

Chapter 1

A brief overview of one-to-one talking practices

Introduction

In the 1880s a young Viennese physician was trying to establish himself as a specialist in so-called nervous diseases. Enduring extreme mood swings himself, he tried everything – from cocaine to electrotherapy and hypnosis – to help himself and his patients suffering from hysteria. Gradually, he abandoned all these props and realised that listening and talking to a patient is what really mattered. The interaction between patient and therapist seemed to have a curative power. His name, of course, was Sigmund Freud and the ‘talking cure’ was born. However, his approach was very unusual for that time and it took a while to be accepted by the medical and scientific establishment. Just over a hundred years later, it is estimated that there are over 400 different approaches to one-to-one practice. In this book we will refer to some of these approaches as well as the methods and techniques that they use, so it may be helpful to start with a brief overview of the field.

Traditionally, and mostly for historical reasons, one-to-one practices are organised in three categories: psychodynamic approaches, cognitive-behavioural approaches and humanistic approaches (some sources also add integrative approaches, constructivist approaches, systemic approaches, etc.). We follow this fashion to a degree, but we also recognise the need to be fluid in this respect. Any categorisation of a human endeavour that has been evolving organically by individuals and groups of different temperaments, ideological backgrounds and working in different historical periods and social circumstances is in danger of oversimplifying the real situation. We will suggest later on, though, when the Personal Consultancy framework is introduced that, from a practical point of view, there might be a more fruitful way to group different approaches. Putting this aside, there is one important difference from other similar overviews: we include coaching as a valuable contribution to one-to-one practice and on a par with other approaches. All approaches are situated in historical context for two reasons: one is to show that every approach is to some extent the product of its time (which is not to say that it cannot have a lasting value), and the other is to highlight the fact that the field as a whole is constantly evolving. So, the journey continues!

Before moving on, we wish to make clear though that we do not see sufficiently compelling reasons to make a distinction between counselling and psychotherapy (referred to from now on as therapy). With due respect to those who wish to maintain boundaries between these practices, we concur with the prevailing view in the UK (although not necessarily in the USA) that these professions overlap to a large extent, so we use these terms interchangeably. Without getting into details, we take the view that the similarities between them, in regard to their aims, functions and methods, seem to be much greater than their differences.

Psychodynamic approaches

Freud’s ideas and ways of helping his patients were innovative, even revolutionary for that time. However, Freud wanted recognition, and this was hard to achieve for a Jewish doctor in conservative Viennese professional circles. So, even if the Greek myths meant more to him than empirical research, Freud tried hard to align himself with the scientific, medical model. And, in the spirit of the time, ‘scientific’ meant causal: gravitation causes an apple to fall, some chemical reactions cause explosions, natural selection causes biological evolution. Following his logic, if we want to help patients with mental health problems, we (and they) first need to find the cause of their troubles. It is assumed that understanding the cause will lead to recovery. This is linked to another assumption in psychoanalysis, namely, that we all go through certain developmental stages in early childhood and that sexuality plays a major role in this respect. This process is not straightforward and easy though. When moving from one stage to another, we can have all sorts of conflicting and even disturbing feelings towards those close and dear to us. Sometimes we develop defence mechanisms, or lock away or suppress our feelings and thoughts in order to cope with them. Not managing to negotiate our way through this process successfully can cause a neurosis later in life.

So where do we look, according to Freud, if we want to find the cause of our troubles? We look inward and we look into the past, usually early childhood. Freud’s truly ingenious (although not completely original) answer to a question of where we hide our unwanted materials and the roots of troubles from ourselves was the unconscious mind. He famously compared the mind to an iceberg. Most of it is under the surface! Freud had never satisfactorily defined the unconscious, but still this idea revolutionised our understanding of the mind and therapeutic practice. As an archaeologist’s task is to painstakingly dig out our collective past buried under the layers of sand and soil, the therapist’s task is to help the patient bring to the surface (into their full awareness) those hidden experiences and aspects of their personality. The role of the therapist is to provide an environment in which clients feel safe to lower their defence mechanisms – the guards that have become jailers – so that those underlying processes and drives can resurface. The most common methods to do so are free association and dream analysis. Both techniques clearly aim to establish some sort of communication with the unconscious. So the therapist interference is minimised (which is why, in the past, the therapist would sit outside the visual field of the client, a practice now largely abandoned). The therapist listens attentively and perhaps helps the client later to interpret or analyse the content. Nevertheless, the relationship between the therapist and client is deemed to be an essential part of the therapeutic process. This is partly because trust is a key ingredient, but also because there is an apparent tendency for clients to project their early relationships with significant others onto the relationship with the therapist (known as transference).

As soon as this practice was established, it diverged into a number of approaches (e.g. Jung’s Analytical psychology, Adler’s Individual psychology and Ericson’s Ego psychology being best known examples). So, psychoanalysis, still most faithful to its origins, is considered nowadays as a member of the family of psychodynamic approaches.

These approaches once dominated the field but not any more – according to the latest survey in the UK only 12 per cent of therapists subscribe to them. There are a number of reasons for this: psychoanalysis is notorious for its lengthy treatment – therapy can last for years and in some cases a client has up to five sessions a week, although this is less and less common. A consequence of such a way of working is that it is expensive – only the well-off can afford psychoanalysis and it is largely beyond reach of the public sector too. Moreover, there is no conclusive evidence that psychoanalysis actually works. No doubt it has helped many clients, but the assumption that changes in one’s inner world (insights and realisations) would spontaneously lift ‘neurosis’ and lead to tangible changes in the affective, cognitive or behavioural patterns of the client has never been proven beyond reasonable doubt. Freud himself did not do much empirical work, so his theory is often considered philosophy rather than hard science. This is reflected in the fact that Freud is still widely taught at universities, except in psychology departments! Nevertheless, the influence and importance of psychodynamic approaches can never be overestimated. Any attempt at integration would be incomplete without taking them into account.

Behaviourism

At the time when Freud was developing his approach, a physiologist on the other side of Europe was doing something very different but with equally important consequences for psychology and one-to-one practice. His name was Ivan Pavlov and he used the experimental method (mostly on dogs and occasionally orphaned children). The way he conducted his experiments would cause an outcry nowadays (because of quite invasive surgical procedures that were involved) but nevertheless the impact of his findings was far reaching. In a nutshell, Pavlov discovered that dogs would salivate in response to a food-associated stimulus whether they were fed or not. The concept of a stimulus–automatic response pattern became known as Classical Conditioning. To understand how powerful classical conditioning is we only have to think of certain smells or sounds that immediately evoke an emotional and sometimes behavioural response. The relevance for one-to-one practitioners is that it can not only help us understand a client’s seemingly ‘irrational’ behaviour but it can also lead us to help clients to recondition themselves so that they can associate a positive response to a stimulus of their choosing. Pavlov’s work took the central stage in psychology in the early twentieth century thanks to John B. Watson who started a psychological school of Behaviourism in the United States. Behaviourism was further developed by B.F. Skinner who introduced the concept of Operant Conditioning: here, in brief, behaviour is maintained or modified by its consequences. For instance, if rewarded, it will be strengthened and more likely to be repeated; if ignored, it may fade away. This may be useful to practitioners who, for example, want to help clients to improve performance.

The major tenet of Behaviourism, which reigned for fifty years, was that human beings are born as blank slates and are fully shaped by the environment. So nurture, rather than nature, rules. The mind, in fact, became seen as something unscientific, not to be bothered with – all that mattered was scientifically observable behaviour. Behavioural practice (best known for the use of the ‘exposure’ technique) still exists today but is usually integrated with cognitive approaches, which are known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Cognitive Behavioural Coaching (CBC).

Cognitive Behavioural approaches

In the 1950s Ellis developed Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) and Beck founded Cognitive Therapy (CT). While rooted in rather different theories, Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy have shared their enthusiasm for experimental research. It was recognised that these two approaches can complement each other so nowadays their hybrid Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is amongst the best-known and recognised approaches to therapy and coaching.

CBT is very different in its philosophy and practice from psychodynamic approaches. It is goal-oriented and practitioners are not shy in taking a more directive or guiding role. Compared with their psychoanalytic colleagues, CBT practitioners may be less interested in the past of their clients or the causes of their troubles. The focus of this approach is on the present and the future. Moreover, the assumption is that our feelings and emotional reactions are mediated by our thought patterns and interpretations. For example, if we think negative thoughts we may feel depressed; if we focus on perceived danger we are likely to feel anxious. So, changing maladaptive thinking leads to changes in affect and in behaviour (although recently the emphasis is on changes in one’s relationship with maladaptive thinking rather than changes in thinking itself; Hayes et al., 2011).

A number of techniques are used to help individuals challenge and replace their maladaptive reactions, beliefs and thinking patterns (e.g. over-generalising, magnifying negatives, minimising positives and catastrophising) with more realistic and effective thoughts, thus decreasing emotional distress and self-defeating behaviour. Modern forms of CBT include some traditional techniques such as exposure and Ellis’s ABC model, but new ones are often added to its repertoire (e.g. using imagery, cognitive restructuring, relaxation training, acceptance and commitment method, etc.; Hoffmann, 2011).

CBT is currently widely used in health-care (the NHS in the UK) because it is considered cost-effective and evidence-based. However, the full picture is more complicated. CBT is often criticised for being somewhat superficial – it focuses on changing manifestations or symptoms without necessarily dealing with deeper issues and causes. So, even if CBT can be very effective in, for example, changing certain thought and behavioural patterns, it is sometimes claimed that these changes are short-lived. One study, for example, found that, two years after treatment, two-thirds of those who had CBT had relapsed or sought further help (Westen et al., 2004). Moreover, CBT doesn’t suit everybody – some clients find this approach and some of its methods (e.g. being asked to do ‘homework’) too directive and feel that their emotional issues are not always addressed adequately. That said, the effectiveness of CBT interventions probably depend on the skill and sensitivity of the practitioner and to what extent this style of working matches the expectations and preferences of the client. We are in no doubt that many CBT techniques and methods can enrich the repertoire of one-to-one practitioners especially those who choose to work in an integrative way.

Humanistic movement

In the mid twentieth century a sort of revolution happened in the field of psychology and therapy. A number of new approaches appeared as a reaction to the by now established approaches of psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Although these two schools differ dramatically, they have certain common characteristics which came from the prevailing scientific paradigms of the time. Both schools try to observe the person objectively, assuming that there are discernable laws of human nature that direct individuals’ behaviour, and are essentially reductionist, relying on one or more determinants of human behaviour (such as sexual drive or conditioning). However, it appeared to some psychologists and therapists that human beings do not seem to be completely determined, that we are self-actualising organisms and active players in shaping our destinies. As the French existentialist Sartre famously put it ‘We are condemned to be free.’ This opened the way towards recognition of the importance of individuality, choice and personal responsibility. It was quickly realised that taking account of this self-actualising tendency and adopting a more holistic approach would have profound effects on the therapeutic process, so many new approaches appeared. They are often considered under the banner of humanistic psychology, although some, such as Gestalt therapy (which we will consider shortly), or Psychosynthesis that included a spiritual or transpersonal element, developed independently. What they all had in common was moving away from seeing the therapist as an expert and pathologising the client. In their view clients were the experts in their world and given the right conditions they would spontaneously strive towards actualising their potential. This reflected other social changes towards greater racial, sexual and gender liberation that took momentum at that time. The person-centred approach, founded by Carl Rogers, is the lasting legacy of the humanistic movement.

Person-centred approach

Person-centred perspective on the therapist–client relationship is nowadays a foundation for most counselling training programmes. Person-centred (originally called client-centred) therapy emphasises ‘being with’ and listening to a client rather than trying to do something, which is probably the greatest temptation for many counselling trainees and novice practitioners. The assumption of the person-centred approach is that clients know themselves best and that they, rather than the practitioner, are in the best position to help themselves and find solutions to their problems. All people have a natural tendency and capacity to develop, so the role of the therapist is to provide the right conditions for this process to unfold spontaneously at t...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• About the contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction Personal Consultancy and integration
• Part I The Personal Consultancy framework
• Part II Context and application Guest contributors
• Part III Critique and future developments
• References
• Index