Staff and student research presented at British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy conference

The MA Clinical Counselling team attended the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Conference (BACP), where all presented on their current research, alongside wider staff members of the Social and Political Science Division.

The presentations by academic staff were: An Exploration of the Utility of Discourses of Poor Perinatal Mental Health Experiences for Women in the UK: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, by Counselling Senior Lecturer Emma Chapman; The pedagogy of vulnerability in humanistic counsellor training in higher education, by Clinical Counselling Lecturer Julie Devonald; Textiles And Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: A qualitative study into how the intact and refashioned textiles of the deceased facilitate a continued relationship – a snapshot of the literature, by Clinical Counselling Senior Lecturer Eleanor Warman; and To be or not to be: the case for being sociologically informed when researching in the counselling professions, by Dr Amanda McGarry, Emeritus Professor Andrew Reeves, and Dr Kim Ross.

The team was delighted to be joined by two current students. Ty Tyler, who has recently completed their first year, was joined by Laura Sayles, who is in her final year of the course and was accepted to present her Master’s research at the pre-conference workshop, titled What role does the counsellor’s imagination play in the therapeutic process?

Laura said: “I applied to speak at the BACP Research Pre-Conference Event at a time when I had mixed feelings about my research topic, in the hope that it might help me in the months ahead whilst writing and it certainly did.

“It was an honour to asked to speak. However, the best thing was hearing lots of other postgraduate students talking about their research topics, what had inspired them and seeing others interested in your topic too. The panels and workshops were relevant and thought-provoking too. I’d really recommend other students getting involved; it’s a great way to network beyond your cohort and an invaluable learning experience.”

Ty added: “At the end of my first year of the MA in Clinical Counselling, I attended the BACP International Research Conference after receiving one of the Increasing Access to Research bursaries. The BACP was actively encouraging and supportive of student attendees, and several of the papers were presented by students.

“It was a really great opportunity to learn a lot from a wide range of research topics to enhance my understanding of counselling theory and practice. The presentations gave me so much to think about; interesting questions and ethical and practical considerations for practice. I also got a good idea of how research works, and being able to chat with current researchers about their work made me excited to do research of my own in a few years!

“I would definitely recommend it to counselling students, not only to get an introduction to research, but for the personal and professional development too.”

Main image: Dr Amanda McGarry, Emeritus Professor Andrew Reeves and Dr Kim Ross.

Image 2: Emma Chapman presenting her talk.

Image 3: Julie Devonald presenting her talk.