Would you be willing to contribute your experience and insight to a new qualitative study into how psychosynthesis therapists work with love?
Psychosynthesis Trust Advanced Diploma student, Philip Ellington, is looking for participants for their research study on how psychosynthesis therapists can work with clients they struggle to find empathic love for.
Like Firman and Gila, I believe that unconditional empathic love is essential in therapy. Perhaps that’s true more especially for us, practicing our ‘psychotherapy of love’ (2010). So, when I found myself struggling to bring that love to a particular client it was a challenge that little in the literature helped me navigate. I don’t imagine I’m alone in meeting this situation. So, I’m setting out to explore how other practitioners might respond to the following question:
How do psychosynthesis therapists conceptualise and work with situations where they can’t find love for a client?
My name is Phillip Ellington. I’m studying for an Advanced Diploma at the Psychosynthesis Education Trust. I believe this question of how we understand and work ethically with an absence of love has implications that can make an important practical and theoretical contribution to the field. So, if you are a psychosynthesis therapist, with at least three years in clinical practice and have experienced a similar difficulty, I’d love to hear from you. I am particularly interested in:
- Your personal reflections on the experience and the meaning you made of it.
- The impact on your sense of self as a counsellor.
- Any models, concepts and working strategies you found helpful.
- If and how your experience changed your approach to your work.
Ethical framework:
This study has been approved by the Psychosynthesis Education Trust’s Ethics Committee and will be run under their supervision. It will also abide by the British Psychological Society code of human research ethics and with the BACP ethical guidelines for research in the counselling professions in all respects. Your contributions will remain entirely anonymous throughout and following the process.
If you are interested in contributing and would like more information, please contact me at the following email address: phillip.ellington@gmail.com