Person-centred – Pluralistic Practice

The Radical Nature of Pluralism in Therapy

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton One of the challenges to pluralism in therapy, over the years, is that we’re not really saying anything new. The challenge goes something like, ‘Yeah, pluralism, that’s great, but we’re all pluralists anyway. I’ve been doing pluralism for years.’ Being pluralistic,…

A response to Ong, Murphy, and Joseph regarding Cooper and McLeod’s exposition of pluralistic practice

November 9, 2022 Cultural diversity Epistemology Person-centred Philosophy Therapeutic approaches No Comments

Ross Crisp, ross.crispsy@gmail.com In their 2020 article, published in Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, Ong, Murphy, and Joseph claimed that Cooper and McLeod’s exposition of pluralistic practice embraces specific ontological ‘positions’ for different schools of psychotherapy. They argued, incorrectly, that it equates to an ‘ontological eclecticism’ that is incompatible with Carl…

The Metatherapeutic Current in Pluralism

March 31, 2022 Arts therapies Co-production Critiques Integrative and Eclectic Practices Metatherapeutic communication Person-centred Preferences Therapeutic approaches Training 5 Comments

Nicola Blunden, BSc Person-Centred Pluralistic Counselling, Metanoia Institute, London Terry Eagleton, one of my favourite philosophers, has written that, ‘For much of the time, our intellectual and other activities bowl along fairly serenely, and in this situation no great expenditure of theoretical energy is usually necessary. But there may come…

A preferred relationship: A response to client preference

February 16, 2022 Co-production Critiques Person-centred Preferences 2 Comments

Mike Moss; counsellor and supervisor, The City of Edinburgh Council ‘It isn’t the technique, it isn’t the therapist, it isn’t the lack of training. It isn’t the new wonder drug, it isn’t the diagnosis. It is our clients own inborn capacities for selfhealing, and it’s the meeting – the relationship…

Pluralism as Diversity in Practice: But What about Indigenous and Transpersonal Approaches?

December 9, 2021 Critiques Cultural diversity Cultural resources Person-centred Personal Philosophy Politics Spirituality No Comments

Joe Bartholomew, trainee psychotherapist, Brighton Therapy Centre; radicalcultureint@gmail.com; www.radicalculture.co.uk On my journey as a trainee therapist I’ve previously worked as a trainee NHS psychological wellbeing practitioner (PWP) within an IAPT service. This involved using a CBT model, as well as CBT based interventions when working with clients. More recently in…

Reflections on the First Pluralistic Encounter Group

November 6, 2021 Groups Leadership Person-centred Personal 4 Comments

Rowan Moloney MSc, Private Practice at The Rowan Well A note of reassurance to start this blog: Confidentiality was negotiated in our encounter group that members may share their personal thoughts and feelings, but content would be held strictly ‘within the group’. This post meets this agreement and the group…

Developing Pluralistic Encounter Groups

July 13, 2021 Groups Information and Updates Networking Person-centred Practice 1 Comment

Ani de la Prida, University of East London, Association for Person Centred Creative Arts My training was person-centred, and my practice has always been on the experiential and integrative end of the spectrum of person-centred practice rather than classical client-centred therapy. In my practice I draw on various types of…

Reflections on Using the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP): Confronting Early Dropout

April 1, 2021 Measures Person-centred Personal Practice Shared decision making 2 Comments

Michelle Briggs, UKCP-accredited psychotherapist in private practice at Counselling West Bridgford Pressure to Connect? I tend to describe myself as a person-centred psychotherapist, placing the therapist-client relationship at the heart of the therapeutic process, following the pace of and being led by the client. This is all well and good,…

Working Pluralistically with Parts of Self: The Principles of Inner Pluralism

March 24, 2021 Inner plurality Person-centred Practice Shared decision making 3 Comments

Nicola Blunden, Metanoia Institute, London In this blog, I outline the key elements of working with self-plurality (the experience of multiple inner ‘selves’), and I describe the creative synergy between the pluralistic approach and this work, in particular in our commitment to collaboration, multiplicity, and flexibility. The Spectrum of Self-Plurality…

Focus: Finding my Strengths in Pluralistic Practice

October 30, 2020 Critiques Person-centred Personal Practice Therapeutic approaches 3 Comments

Darren Hopgood BA(Hons) MBACP MNCS, Academic Researcher (Counselling Tutor) and Private Practice (Chiron Counselling Support) I have been practising for a short time now, two and a half years, not long at all. When I qualified as an integrative counsellor, I focused on person-centred, Gestalt, and cognitive behavioural therapy. Whilst…

Bread and Jam and Sparkling Wine? Can I be Person-Centred and Pluralistic?

May 12, 2020 Arts therapies Person-centred Personal Philosophy Practice Therapeutic approaches 11 Comments

Ani de la Prida, creative arts counsellor, psychotherapist, founder of the Association for Person Centred Creative Arts, and lecturer at the University of East London I have been a passionate person-centred therapist and trainer for many years. A couple of years ago I attended the pluralistic conference in London, and…

‘We’re making it up as we go along!’ Co-production in Pluralistic Person-Centred Therapy

April 16, 2020 Co-production Person-centred Practice Preferences Shared decision making 27 Comments

Nicola Blunden; BACP Accredited Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Supervisor, and Trainer, Metanoia Institute, London; Co-Convenor Holi: Co-productive Research in Wales This blog is an overview of co-produced, pluralistic person-centred therapy, as I live it with my clients. I talk about co-production, and what it is generally in health care, where it has…

Why We Should Acknowledge and Accommodate Clients’ Wants and Needs

March 14, 2020 Critiques Person-centred Philosophy Preferences Shared decision making No Comments

Jonny Hutchinson, Trainee Counselling Psychologist, University of Roehampton This blog is a response to one of the points raised in Ong, Murphy, and Joseph’s (2020) critique of the pluralistic approach to counselling and psychotherapy. For reasons of space, I’ve chosen to address just one particular aspect of their argument, but…

From the Actualising Tendency to Autonomy: How do we Understand and Honour Self-Determinism in Pluralistic, Integrative, and Person-Centred Therapy?

March 3, 2020 Critiques Person-centred Preferences Shared decision making 2 Comments

Erin Stevens, Counsellor/Psychotherapist, blogger A few years ago, in therapy, as I discussed some of the more questionable choices I have made in my life, my therapist said to me ‘You always get to where you need to be, Erin. You might not always take the most orthodox route, but…

Person-Centred and Pluralistic Approaches: Similarities and Differences

October 29, 2019 Person-centred Practice 2 Comments

Mick Cooper, University of Roehampton ‘What’s the difference between pluralism and person-centred therapy?’ It’s a question I get asked fairly often; or the not-so-pleasant variant, ‘Isn’t pluralism just a re-hash of Rogers?’ Some preliminary distinctions In answering this question, the first thing that’s important to recognise is that there’s lots…