Using Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy
- John McLeod - University of Oslo, Norway
In this book bestselling author John McLeod examines the multiple ways in which research can be used to inform and enhance counselling practice. The author discusses how research impacts on policy and practice, covering research knowledge, values, research awareness and skills. Further chapters cover:
- Using research to understand the therapy process and outcomes
- Using research to make sense of other lives
- Using client feedback to enhance practice
- Using research to build professional networks and effective organisations.
The book can be used throughout training on counselling, psychotherapy and counselling psychology courses, to support the development of professional competencies and personal development. It will also be valuable reading for both practitioners and researchers.
This is a warm-hearted book about research, written as an invitation to practitioners to come to the research table, bringing the voices of their clients with curiosity and openness, a sense of inclusion and the means of collaboration. I would recommend this book for seasoned researchers to review and reflect on their work, and novice researchers to explore the many possibilities available to them for conducting and using research...It would also be useful for educators and training organisations, managers and policy makers due to its comprehensive and diverse approach to the topic. I can only imagine the difference this book may have made to my understanding of research gained from formal studies, and the shifts in thinking that educators and students could explore (or resist) using this material.
To meet the crucial need of connecting the worlds of research and practice in psychotherapy, John McLeod's present book, along with his other books on the subject, are a godsend. McLeod is the ideal guide for engagingly integrating the researcher's world of operational rigor, empirical measurement, and theory-testing with the practitioner's world of existentially, emotionally, and narratively engaging with a client's suffering.
In Using Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy, internationally acclaimed researcher Dr. John McLeod guides psychotherapists to consider the vital intersection of research and clinical practice. He introduces readers to multiple inquiry traditions that therapists can utilize not only to investigate their own curiosities about psychotherapy, but to develop a richer understanding of their own and their clients’ experiences. By highlighting seminal psychotherapy studies, he permits therapists to gaze into the internal world of their clients and to understand their therapy encounters though fresh eyes. My students are drawn in by his elegant style of writing that renders complex methodological issues accessible and brings to life the intrigue within the research process.
As a new practitioner-researcher taking my first steps into the world of research, it was McLeod's writing I would turn to for sage advice, guidance and support. As I developed more confidence in my ability to undertake research in my field, it was again McLeod I turned to, helping me to find my way through unclear terminology and complicated method. McLeod's contribution to the developing culture of research in counselling and psychotherapy simply cannot be over-stated. With Using Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy he once again facilities our next steps. Superbly written, as ever insightful, appropriately challenging; a book for everyone involved in delivering and researching counselling and psychotherapy.
Mcleod is full of ideas, especially for those who share a background in constructivism
