Research – Pluralistic Practice

The Inventory of Preferences: An International Evaluation

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton Over the past few years, a team of us have been working together to bring together all the datasets on the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP). The tool was developed by John Norcross and myself to support the assessment of clients’…

‘Therapeutic Expertise’? Deliberately Curious From a Pluralistic Perspective!

September 20, 2023 Deliberate practice Research Training No Comments

Kerry-Jayne Lambert, University of Roehampton (lambertk@roehampton.ac.uk) Deliberate practice (DP) is argued to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of counselling and psychotherapy. It is a set of training methods aimed to support therapists to improve their clinical performance by isolating and focusing on specific skill subsets. This is considered similar to…

Enhancing Mental Health and Wellbeing Outcomes for Psychotherapy and Counselling through Idiographic Analysis: A Four-Quadrant Approach

May 31, 2023 Measures Research Shared decision making No Comments

Jenna Jacob, Research Lead, Child Outcomes Research Consortium (CORC) at Anna Freud I completed a Ph.D. by published works at the University of Roehampton in 2020. This is an alternative route to a Ph.D. qualification, where the research is already published and then the candidate pulls together a supporting piece…

Causality in Psychotherapy and Counselling: Towards Evidential Pluralism

January 25, 2023 Critiques Philosophy Research 2 Comments

Hanne Weie Oddli, University of Oslo, Norway To get a true picture of causal relationships in psychotherapy and counselling we need to approach the question from different angles by use of various research designs. Why should we care about causality at all? Bertrand Russell, in his seminal essay ‘On the…

What do Clients Really Make of Working with Preferences?

January 23, 2023 Co-production Metatherapeutic communication Preferences Research Shared decision making No Comments

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton Asking clients about their preferences, and trying to accommodate them, is right at the heart of pluralistic practice. But what is that actually like for clients? Do clients want us to ask them about their preferences? Do they find it helpful?…

International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy Prize Winners

October 20, 2022 Arts therapies Children Co-production Cultural resources Deliberate practice Goals Information and Updates Preferences Research Young people 2 Comments

We are delighted to announce our conference prize winners from the last two years. You can find more information on each of the projects and links to watch the presentations below. You can watch all of the recordings from the conference here. Congratulations to all of our prize winners! Senior…

Final Schedule and Last Call for Tickets

June 3, 2022 CPD Online Practice Research Training No Comments

We everyone is enjoying the long weekend! We are all getting very excited to welcome all of the pluralistic community to the conference tonight and tomorrow! Get Tickets Here. Read the Schedule for the Weekend Here. Check out the Conference Booklet Here.

Deadline for Submissions Extended

April 4, 2022 Information and Updates Practice Research No Comments

We are delighted to invite further submissions for the fifth international conference on pluralistic counselling and psychotherapy, hosted by The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. Please find the submissions form here. Venue: Online via ZoomFriday 3rd June (6.00 pm – 7.30 pm) (social event from 8.00 pm)Saturday 4th June (9.15 am…

Pluralism, Practice-Based Evidence, and Practice Research Networks

October 29, 2021 Measures Personal Practice Research No Comments

Bill Andrews, co founder of Pragmatic Tracker; Honorary Researcher, CREST, University of Roehampton I trained as a dentist originally back in Cork and spent 22 years looking at people upside down on my dental chair. In the early 2000s I went from ‘dental’ to ‘mental’ and trained as a Human…

4th International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy – Conference Programme

June 25, 2021 Information and Updates Research No Comments

With 3 weeks to go we are pleased to update everyone with the final programme for our 2021 conference! For more information about our presenters you can check our webpage here and if you’re still to buy tickets you can pick them up here.

4th International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy – Conference Booklet

June 21, 2021 Information and Updates Networking Practice Research No Comments

Under a month to go now! There are still tickets left, so if you are yet to buy one you can get one here. We’re operating on a pay what you can afford system when it comes to tickets to make it accessible for everyone. We now have our conference…

4th International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy – Submission Deadline Extended!

May 25, 2021 Information and Updates Networking Research Training No Comments

We have now extended the deadline for submissions to Friday 11th June due to ongoing interest. Please find more information regarding submissions here and book tickets here. We welcome submissions from trainees, practitioners, and service users, as well as more experienced academics and researchers. Our aim is to create a warm, friendly, and…

Conference 2021 Update – Tickets and Abstracts

April 27, 2021 Information and Updates Research Training No Comments

Call for Papers and Ticket Information We’re so excited for this years conference on the 16th and 17th July. Our annual conference will be held online, and hosted by the University of South Wales and Online Events. They are seeking submissions of abstracts from trainees, practitioners, and service users, as…

Do Clients Want What They Want? Understanding Preferences Through the Directional Framework

April 8, 2021 Philosophy Practice Research Shared decision making 1 Comment

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton ‘The problem with pluralistic therapy is that clients do not know what they want.’ This criticism of pluralism, levelled even by advocates of a person-centred approach, has many parallels in the field of social and political theory. Here, ‘preference utilitarianism’, articulated…

Survey of Pluralistic Practice: Key Findings

December 17, 2020 Information and Updates Practice Research Training 2 Comments

Julia McLeod, School of Applied Sciences, Abertay University An on-line survey of counselling and psychotherapy practitioners who identified themselves as using, or influenced by, a pluralistic framework for practice, was conducted in April 2020. Invitations to complete the survey were circulated by email to a wide range of individuals who…

Moving from Busyness to Retirement and Older Age: Can Pluralistic Counselling Help?

September 8, 2020 Older adults Practice Research 1 Comment

Dr. Nicholas Sarantakis, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton, www.nicholassarantakis.com, nicholas.sarantakis@gmail.com Pluralistic counselling, by definition, draws on a combination of different ideas and therapeutic approaches and techniques; where the journey from psychological distress to contentment and fulfilment is an ongoing, often convoluted, process. This is pretty much like life…

Pluralistic Counselling for Sight Loss

August 3, 2020 Personal Philosophy Practice Research Training 6 Comments

Dr Mhairi Thurston, Senior Lecturer in Counselling at Abertay University I am a blind pluralistic counselling academic with an irrational fear of writing. That blank page and the deafening voice of my inner critic, telling me no one is interested in what I have to say and that other people…

10 Principles of Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy Research

July 8, 2020 Research No Comments

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton What does counselling and psychotherapy research look like, from a pluralistic perspective? Here are ten principles that, for me, would be essential to such research (and, of course, this is a very personal perspective). A genuine openness to the evidence. We…

Shaping the Future of Pluralistic Therapy

May 26, 2020 Research Therapeutic approaches Training No Comments

Julia McLeod, Lecturer in Counselling, Abertay University, Dundee Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of activity going on behind the scenes to create an online therapist survey on pluralistic practice. The survey has now been published, and is open until the 8th June 2020. You can access…

Shaking the Pluralistic Kaleidoscope on a Central Asian Campus

February 17, 2020 Arts therapies Cultural diversity Philosophy Research Young people 2 Comments

Robin Higgins MA, University Counsellor and Well-Being Consultant, University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Campus Well-Being blog: https://tenthstreetdinner.wordpress.com/ Pluralism is a process and not a product. It is a mentality, a way of looking at a diverse and changing world. A pluralistic environment is a kaleidoscope that history shakes…

Eliciting and Accommodating Client Preferences in Counselling and Psychotherapy: When is it Helpful?

January 23, 2020 Preferences Research Shared decision making 1 Comment

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton Is it always helpful to ask clients in counselling and psychotherapy about their preferences, and to fully accommodate them? Of course, from a pluralistic standpoint, that is the wrong question to be asking. Overall, meta-analyses do show that preference accommodation is…

What Kind of Client Preferences are There?

January 14, 2020 Practice Preferences Research Shared decision making 3 Comments

Mick Cooper, University of Roehampton Recently, I’ve been talking to colleagues–and trying to get my head around–the different kinds of preferences that clients might have in counselling and psychotherapy. At the heart of a pluralistic approach is listening to, and trying to accommodate, client preferences; and thinking about the different…

Using measures

March 7, 2019 Preferences Research No Comments

By John Mcleod A theme that often comes up in conversations with pluralistic is the challenge of using feedback tools (CORE, ORS, etc) in therapy sessions. I would like to suggest three points here, for further consideration and possible discussion. First, it is helpful to look at what is happening…