• Home
  • 2023 Conference
  • About
    • How Pluralistic Therapy Works
    • Introduction to Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy
    • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the pluralistic approach
    • Writing a Blog for Pluralistic Practice
    • Past Networking Events
  • Training
    • Degree Courses
    • Master’s Courses
    • Doctoral Courses
  • Research
    • Research Initiatives
    • Evidence to Support Pluralistic Practice
    • Research News
    • Developing a Pluralistic Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research – BACP workshop
  • Publications
  • Tools and Measures
  • Videos
    • Pluralistic Conference 2020
    • Pluralistic Conference 2021
    • Pluralistic Conference 2022
  • Get Involved
  • Blog

Pluralistic Practice

Celebrating diversity in therapy

  • Home
  • 2023 Conference
  • About
    • How Pluralistic Therapy Works
    • Introduction to Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy
    • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the pluralistic approach
    • Writing a Blog for Pluralistic Practice
    • Past Networking Events
  • Training
    • Degree Courses
    • Master’s Courses
    • Doctoral Courses
  • Research
    • Research Initiatives
    • Evidence to Support Pluralistic Practice
    • Research News
    • Developing a Pluralistic Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research – BACP workshop
  • Publications
  • Tools and Measures
  • Videos
    • Pluralistic Conference 2020
    • Pluralistic Conference 2021
    • Pluralistic Conference 2022
  • Get Involved
  • Blog

Sitting in the Grey: Letting Go of Either/Or

February 5, 2020 Epistemology Personal 3 Comments
FacebookTweetPinPrint

Caitríona Kearns, Director of Registry & Operations, IICP College, Dublin.

As we approach the Third International Conference for Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy in Dublin (28-29 March 2020), I find myself reflecting on my own journey toward pluralistic practice and research. I was very young when I started training as a therapist —probably younger than I should have been—and I have literally grown up in the profession. We often hear that therapists’ own stories influence the work we do, and my early years were not without their fair share of chaos and confusion. As a child, I lived in a world of anxiety, constantly seeking control. I hated not knowing. I loathed the uncertainty, the gnawing maelstrom of the unknown. I despised the shaky ground, the ever-present questions and freezing fear that bombarded me from every angle. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that, as a researcher, my natural philosophical position has always been on the positivist side. I like structure, numbers, and statistics. I like the idea of an objective reality that exists and can be found. In many ways, my childhood anxiety was the breeding ground for my positivistic philosophical position. I wanted to find the causes. I wanted to know the answer. I wanted to discover what would work, what would make things better, what would give me certainty.

Conversely, as a therapist, I must sit with the not knowing, with multiple realities, with the perception of my client; and with my perception, with my ideas about what might work and with my clients’ preferences. Despite my positivistic leanings, as a pluralistic practitioner, I firmly believe that there is no one therapeutic truth, that every client will want and need something different from me, that there is no one perfect therapy. And there it is! The word that I have come to realise underpins my positivistic leaning…perfect! Perfectionism is the bane of many a therapist and therapist-in-training: the double-edged sword. On one hand, it has driven me to study, to expand my therapeutic menu, to learn more and understand more, to be better. On the other hand, it has driven me to absolute distraction as I grapple with failure, and the inevitable disorienting dilemmas in clinical work, in teaching, and in research.

Pluralism is perhaps the ‘perfect’ antidote to perfectionism. It challenges me to consider ‘and/both’, and let go of ‘either/or’. It encourages me to be open. It breeds reflexivity, which in turn creates uncertainty. It literally exposes me to ‘the grey’ on a constant basis, which has forced me to grow in a way I could not have foreseen.  Letting go of ‘truth’ has allowed me to learn in a different way, to see through various lenses, to intentionally consider client preferences and multiple methods rather than relying solely on what I think I know.

As part of the organising committee for the forthcoming conference, I am excited by the diversity of presentations that await us. The thread of ‘deliberate practice’ runs through many of the abstracts. Likewise, there are numerous presentations about creative and different ways of working with clients. Furthermore, a number of papers suggest a growing political focus for therapists. The conference provides us with a space to stop, listen, reflect, and network. Such events afford the opportunity to see what’s happening out in the wider world of therapy research and practice and to liaise with others in the field. I hope to see some of you in Dublin 2020!


Click here for more information about our 2020 pluralistic conference.

FacebookTweetPinPrint

Reflections on the Pluralistic Influences in Compassion Focused Therapy

Watching Clouds: Collaborative Work with Children and Young People

3 thoughts on “Sitting in the Grey: Letting Go of Either/Or”
  1. Julia Berrington
    February 5, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    Trouble is I feel like a ‘jack of all trades’ and master of none. The clients don’t seem to mind. Busier than I’ve ever been. Quantifying it is very helpful for people like me. Sorry I can’t make Dublin. Is it available on line?

    Reply
  2. Triona Kearns
    February 6, 2020 at 8:24 am

    Hi Julia,

    Sometimes I identify with you, and I often wonder if mastery ever comes or if it’s just that line in the horizon that constantly moves as we move. Unfortunately the conference isn’t available online this year. Hopefully you can make it next year!

    Reply
  3. Karen
    February 19, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    The relief of having my thoughts which are just out of awareness written for me at just the right time.
    I’m grasping for ‘the answer’ yet I don’t really want there to be one. I’m drawn to behavioural therapy, as it appears to offer certainty, yet at the same time I think that is illusory. And certainty would also be a bit, well boring really!!
    So I’m sitting uncomfortably in the grey at the moment with no choice other than to….wait and see what happens!

    Reply
Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog Post Categories
  • Anthropology (1)
  • Arts therapies (18)
  • CBT (2)
  • Children (3)
  • Co-production (10)
  • CPD (8)
  • Critiques (11)
  • Cultural diversity (7)
  • Cultural resources (12)
  • Deliberate practice (3)
  • Epistemology (5)
  • Gender (2)
  • Goals (4)
  • Groups (7)
  • Information and Updates (34)
  • Inner plurality (2)
  • Integrative and Eclectic Practices (6)
  • Leadership (4)
  • Measures (3)
  • Metatherapeutic communication (5)
  • Narrative therapies (1)
  • Networking (11)
  • No Category (1)
  • Older adults (1)
  • Online (9)
  • Person-centred (14)
  • Personal (33)
  • Philosophy (20)
  • Policy (4)
  • Politics (11)
  • Practice (44)
  • Preferences (18)
  • Research (20)
  • Shared decision making (19)
  • Social justice (5)
  • Spirituality (2)
  • Strengths and Resources (5)
  • Supervision (2)
  • Therapeutic approaches (12)
  • Training (26)
  • Young people (3)
Recent Posts
  • Submission Extension Deadline March 29, 2023
  • Going for Accreditation as a Pluralistic Counsellor March 23, 2023
  • Conference Tickets and Call for Papers March 17, 2023
  • Causality in Psychotherapy and Counselling: Towards Evidential Pluralism January 25, 2023
  • What do Clients Really Make of Working with Preferences? January 23, 2023
  • Sixth International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy. Save the Date! January 11, 2023
  • Interview with Artificial Intelligence Bot ‘ChatGPT’ about Pluralistic Therapy… and It Writes Us a Poem, Too December 14, 2022
  • How My Therapist Dumped Me on My Birthday for Voicing Preferences December 7, 2022
  • A response to Ong, Murphy, and Joseph regarding Cooper and McLeod’s exposition of pluralistic practice November 9, 2022
  • International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy Prize Winners October 20, 2022
Subscribe to this Blog via Email
* indicates required
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Doo by ThemeVS.