Developing skills in counselling and psychotherapy: a scoping review of Interpersonal Process Recall and Reflecting Team methods in initial therapist training

ABSTRACT

The authors conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature associated with Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) and Reflecting Team (RT) methods in order to find evidence for their use within skills development in therapist trainings. Inclusion criteria were: empirical research, reviews of empirical research, and responses to these; RT or IPR for skills development in counsellors/psychotherapists undertaking initial training. Six papers were identified (four IPR, two RT), all from the USA. Of the four IPR papers, three were themselves reviews, the fourth empirical paper being of poor methodological quality. There was some evidence that IPR is more valuable in developing reflective practice than in initial skills training. The small number of RT studies, of varying methodological quality, made it difficult to draw any conclusions about the appropriateness of this method for initial skills training. However, the method appeared to have been broadly welcomed by students for its potential to be inclusive and collaborative. The limitations of this current review are acknowledged, and research recommendations made.

KEYWORDS:

• Interpersonal Process Recall
• Reflecting Teams
• therapist training
• skills development
• scoping review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Bonnie Meekums was the Programme Leader for the BACP accredited MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Leeds, from 2008 to 2015. She was also the first Symposium Co-Editor for the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, and now sits on the Board of that Journal. Bonnie has published widely, including two sole authored books. She has a special interest in creative and embodied ways of working with clients, and is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, a BACP registered counsellor/psychotherapist as well as a Dance Movement Psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer registered with the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK. She also has an interest in experiential pedagogic methods, in research methods that work towards emancipatory goals, and in developing the evidence base for practice. Bonnie has recently published her first Cochrane Systematic Review, of Dance Movement Therapy for depression.

Jane Macaskie is the current Programme Leader for the BACP accredited MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Leeds, a Teaching Fellow in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Leeds and a BACP Registered Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist. She has developed innovative communicative pedagogical methods both as a language teacher and counselling/psychotherapy trainer and educator. Her research interests include pedagogical methods, exploratory practice, transformational and psychospiritual experience, and relational conversational processes in psychotherapy.

Tricia Kapur is a qualified counsellor currently practising in two University and College Counselling Services. She has previously worked in secondary education where she developed an interest in pedagogic research. As a recent graduate from the University of Leeds pg dip Psychotherapy and Counselling, she has actively participated in collaborative inquiry within the programme, reflecting on different pedagogic approaches to skills development and group supervision from a student's perspective. She was employed by the School of Healthcare at the University of Leeds to undertake the research reported here, using internal School funds.

ORCID

Bonnie Meekums http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1293-2254

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported through a Funding For Investment in Excellence grant, from the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds.