TOWARDS INTEGRATIVE PRACTICE

A unique post-qualification course for practising psychotherapists and counsellors

with Michael Soth

Over the last few years interest in the theme of psychotherapy integration has increased dramatically, at the same time as the professionalism and reputation of counsellors and psychotherapists has come under close scrutiny in the media. We are becoming aware of the huge expectation - for better or worse - which has been invested in this relatively young profession to provide ‘good-enough’ parenting to the ‘hurt children’ of the 20th century. One of the sources of mistrust and criticism of our profession is that the field of psychotherapy has itself been disparate and divided into a multitude of factions, schools and approaches, thus reflecting the internal fragmentation, splits and disintegration which bring our clients and patients to us in the first place. The field of psychotherapy is like the psyche of its patients - and practitioners. This is a paradox which we can be helped in by the archetype of the ‘wounded healer’. The impulse and the need to integrate both arise out of a painful awareness of splits - between ‘inner and outer’, body and mind, masculine and feminine, ego and Self. Working towards a healing of these splits is only possible in a congruent way if as practitioners we are engaged in a process of integration ourselves, both in terms of our individual and collective wounds as well as in terms of our theories and approaches. We inherit the wounds of our ‘real’ childhood fathers and mothers, and we inherit the wounds of our therapeutic fathers and mothers - the founders or originators of the particular school we were initially attracted to and trained in.

Each approach - in terms of its theory and technique, in terms of its assumptions (about human nature and psychological health, about therapy, about the world at large), in terms of its beliefs and values - has its strengths and shadow aspects.

This course - by aiming to attract participants from a wide range of approaches - provides an opportunity to meet other therapeutic positions and attitudes AS PEOPLE rather than as theories. It is on this basis - in the relationship between people - that integration becomes possible, whilst theoretically and philosophically there may be irreconcilable contradictions.

The course will build on the various previous training experiences which participants bring to the group, and work towards integration both in terms of therapeutic approaches as well as in terms of the practitioner’s person and role. The course will contribute to a strengthening and grounding of each participant's individual style and will help them to further develop intuition, authenticity and a sense of naturalness in their practice. It will also be stimulating on the level of theoretical and practical skills, expanding participants’ range of intervention and technique as well as conceptual understanding. The connection between individual and group dynamic will be an ongoing thread throughout the course, thus benefiting participants’ insight and skill in terms of working with groups.

Learning and Teaching Style:

When we apply therapeutic concepts to the learning process itself, we can regard it as a highly individual process of organic integration. The course will therefore provide space for both personal and professional development, recognising the various backgrounds and trainings which participants bring to the group as a resource. The course will be a mixture of both group and individual process and skills training, as well as theoretical and experiential learning in response to the group's developing needs. Work in pairs and triads will alternate with work in the middle of the group, interspersed with and followed by feed-back, supervisory reflection and appropriate theoretical input.

CONTENT OF THE COURSE:

This substantial post-graduate course is suitable for both counsellors and psychotherapists and will contribute to a clarification of the differences between counselling and psychotherapy. It addresses the needs of practitioners who are engaged in a medium to long-term process with their clients, and will support them in developing their capacity for containment of the unconscious dynamics and habitual patterns which arise in such work.*

To allow the teaching to arise organically in response to the group’s needs as well as to give space for spontaneity and creativity as part of the unfolding group process, there will be no fixed curriculum. On the basis of past experience of running this course, it is likely that the following themes and issues will be relevant.

Over the year participants will become familiar with some basic concepts drawn from recent integrative writings (e.g. Wilber’s comprehensive developmental model, Clarkson’s five modalities of the therapeutic relationship, etc.) as well as from body psychotherapeutic theory, e.g.:

- the ‘body-mind split’, ‘charge' and ‘discharge’, ‘self-regulation’ (integrating ‘body’ and ‘mind’)

- ‘the cycle of emotional expression’ (integrating vegetative and involuntary with voluntary and rational)

- ‘energetic perception’ and ‘resonance’

These concepts will initially become relevant in the process of reflecting on participants’ current practice, and their therapeutic stance in the tension between the two extremes of colluding on the one hand and objectifying on the other. In this context it may become appropriate to consider the function of the ‘medical model’ within therapy.

Integrating the ‘person’ and the ‘rôle’

We will explore the connection between participants’ habitual ways of relating arising from their own life story on the one hand and the therapeutic positions they are habitually attracted to taking on the other. We will use the body as an avenue to paying attention to the rôle of the therapist, and the various styles and habitual stances which therapists take on or can fall into. We will relate these stances to the various theories and approaches of counselling and psychotherapy, thus enabling participants to develop a self-reflective style and to find a position within the field where they feel at home. This will also be an opportunity to reflect on the different ways in which different practitioners ‘construct’ the therapeutic rôle, and the various archetypal forces - each with their strengths and shadow aspects - at work in these fantasies.

Through working with the variety of approaches represented in the group, we will together establish ingredients of an holistic therapeutic approach, integrating body, emotion, mind and spirit in a framework which includes both:

- an holistic model of the client’s internal conflict

We will make use of elements of a variety of theories to arrive at an integrative understanding of the client’s internal world as well as their functioning externally and in relationship. By drawing on Reichian, Gestalt and Object Relations theory we will look at the parallels in relationship patterns between the client’s early environment, their ‘internal objects’ and their ‘here & now’ relating. This can provide a basis for understanding the client’s transference.

and ...

- an holistic model of the therapist’s internal process

I will suggest a distinction of perception - understanding - intervention in paying attention to the therapist’s moment-to-moment responses. By following closely the therapist’s internal process it often becomes apparent that sooner or later the client’s conflict becomes the therapist’s conflict, too - usually on the level of therapeutic understanding (‘what is going on ?’) or therapeutic intervention (‘what do I do ?’). This can provide a basis for understanding countertransference and its transformational potential in the therapeutic relationship. We will include awareness of the body as an anchor for understanding transference and countertransference.

Throughout the course we will work towards integrating participants’ own process, the group process and the learning process. This in itself can be seen as modelling the conscious and therapeutic ‘use’ of self and of the relationship which is recognised as an essential aspect in much of the recent integrative theorising.

* In the past, the course has been used successfully by participants to contribute to accreditation requirements with BAC (British Association for Counselling) and AHPP (Association for Humanistic Psychology Practitioners).