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ABSTRACT
A co-operative inquiry group consisting of 8 counsellors met for 11 months to explore their experience of spirituality in their training and in their work with clients [Swinton, V. (2010). The spiritual in counselling training (Unpublished Thesis). The University of Manchester; Swinton, V. (2015). The spiritual in counselling training. In G. Nolan & W. West (Eds.), Therapy, culture and spirituality: Developing therapeutic practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan]. The aim to explore whether spirituality was absent from the process of training, specifically to discover (1) how counsellors perceived and described their experience of spirituality in their training and (2) with a view to developing spiritual pedagogy into the training process of practitioners. The research was based on the Human Inquiry paradigm, where participants could consider the implications of new ideas for their own lives and their practice [Reason, R., & Bradbury, H. (2001). Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. London: Sage]. From these groups although four main themes were identified, what is being considered in this paper is how the inquiry group process proved to be a useful vehicle for transformative learning and a dynamic means for individuals to engage with the topic in counselling training.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Dr Valda Swinton is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MA in Clinical Counselling at the University of Chester. Valda is a BACP registered practitioner and was a Counsellor in a G.P. Surgery for 11 years. She currently has a small private practice in both counselling and supervision. Valda’s interest is in the Spiritual aspects of Counselling of Psychotherapy.