Session 37: Utilising ‘Feedback fruits’ to enhance counselling and psychotherapy students understanding of contact work

Abstract

‘Psychological contact’, one of the six ‘necessary and sufficient’ conditions proposed by Carl Rogers in 1957, is fundamental to the practice of person-centred counselling. However, there may be times when a person may be in a pre-expressive or ‘altered’ state; for example, some people with Learning Disabilities, Dementia, or experiencing psychosis may struggle to achieve psychological contact.

Contact Reflections (CR) were developed by Garry Prouty as a way of developing and maintaining contact with clients by making explicit about something that is taken for granted. They are contact-orientated responses of the therapist that point to the most concrete elements of the shared world, behaviour, and experience of the client.

The development of the resource was prompted by feedback from students who noticed that some of their peers struggled with the concept of pre-therapy and contact reflections and were uncomfortable being introduced to pre-therapy as a role play because either they did not have the experience of people with learning disabilities or found the concreteness of contact work a bit patronising of the other.

Together, the two students, Maddie Hall and Ann-Marie Wilson, and the MA Counselling and Psychotherapy programme lead, Lesley Dougan, explored possible ways of enhancing the teaching of contact work. Maddie and Ann-Marie suggested developing a video with examples of the different CRs. The video was scripted and acted by Maddie and Ann-Marie and filmed in the counselling practice suites.

The short video allowed us to demonstrate not only the different types of CR but also the changing nature of the relationship between client and counsellor because of the use of CR. In the video, the counsellor's use of CR facilitated psychological contact with the client, who was able to move closer, make eye contact, relax, acknowledge, and be in closer proximity to the counsellor.

Concurrently, the Faculty of Health TEL team was trailing Feedback Fruits and suggested that this could provide us with the structure to support students' engagement with their learning.

Lesley filmed an ‘explainer video’ and written instructions to prepare students for watching the CR video. The CR video pauses at key points for ‘in video activities’, prompting students to ask, ‘What type of contact reflection was used here?’ and only proceeds once a response is submitted by the student. Students are given feedback about the accuracy of their answers in real-time and then offered an opportunity to reflect on the material and how it has impacted them.

Year One counselling and psychotherapy students were able to access the resource before the lecture on Pre-Therapy and Contact Work. Students who accessed the resources commented on its positive impact on their understanding of contact reflections.

Utilising ‘Feedback fruits’ to enhance counselling and psychotherapy students understanding of contact work PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.