Category: Research

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…