Preferences – Pluralistic Practice

What do Clients Really Make of Working with Preferences?

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?…

How My Therapist Dumped Me on My Birthday for Voicing Preferences

December 7, 2022 Metatherapeutic communication Personal Preferences Shared decision making 7 Comments

Simon Yeates, IICP, Dublin, MSc Pluralism, Year 1 In January 2022 I turned 31. During this time, I was struggling. Becoming a new father seven months previously coupled with sleep deprivation and coronavirus restrictions had taken a toll and I had made the decision for both me and my family…

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…

Collaboration, Metacommunication, and Pluralistic Therapy

May 28, 2022 Critiques Integrative and Eclectic Practices Measures Metatherapeutic communication Policy Preferences Shared decision making 4 Comments

Jay Beichman, Counsellor/Psychotherapist in Private Practice The following thoughts about collaboration, metacommunication, and pluralistic therapy are drawn from my thesis How Counsellors and Psychotherapists Make Sense of Pluralistic Approaches to Therapy (2018). I write this in anticipation of this year’s Pluralistic Therapy Conference. In my view, pluralism is better thought…

‘Scaffolding’ and ‘De-Specifying’: Deepening an Understanding of Clients’ Preferences through Conversational Analysis

April 7, 2022 Co-production Metatherapeutic communication Practice Preferences Shared decision making Training No Comments

Sarah Cantwell, @cantwels1 For better or worse, I’ve always had a drive towards trying to comprehend the fundamental structure of things. Unsurprisingly then, I majored in philosophy for my undergraduate degree, and I took my curiosity about underlying causes with me, through my studies in psychology and into my counselling…

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…

Emotioncubes: A New Psychotherapy Tool

March 26, 2021 Arts therapies Practice Preferences 9 Comments

Brendan Murphy; counsellor, supervisor, and trainer living in the West of Ireland About eight years ago I had an idea for a new tool that I thought might help when working with emotions in therapy. I’ve developed it since into (what I think) is a good working prototype and have…

How Do You Ask Clients About Their Preferences?

October 19, 2020 Co-production Practice Preferences Shared decision making 1 Comment

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology, University of Roehampton Asking clients, directly, what they want from therapy isn’t always helpful. Sometimes, it’s just too direct, too blunt, and can be difficult for clients to answer. So having gentler ways of asking this question can be important in identifying clients’ preferences.…

The Therapy Room as an Integral Part of Pluralistic Practice

July 2, 2020 Preferences Supervision 4 Comments

Anna Fox, Course Lead for BA Counselling and Therapeutic Practice, University of South Wales, Like many practitioners I have been contemplating whether to continue working purely remotely or whether to resume face-to-face counselling, and have been looking at government guidelines, research and BACP recommendations, as well as talking to other…

Complexities of Working with Client Preferences

May 18, 2020 Personal Preferences Shared decision making 2 Comments

Caroline Burke, psychotherapist in private practice, Personal Development Tutor, IICP. The pluralistic approach—which prioritises the perspective of the client, their goals, and preferences—has challenged me personally. I trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist, so the organic unfolding of a client’s story within the cultivation of a therapeutic relationship, unrestricted by time, is…

‘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…

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…

Client Preferences in counselling for alcohol problems

November 1, 2019 Practice Preferences Shared decision making No Comments

Jillian Walls, Abertay University Walls, J., McLeod, J., & McLeod, J. (2016). Client preferences in counselling for alcohol problems: A qualitative investigation. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 16(2), 109-118. doi: 10.1002/capr.12064 What to say about this research? I developed, like most counsellors, a keen interest in what clients wanted from counselling,…

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…