What would an existential approach bring to research supervision in postgraduate psychotherapy and counselling psychology education?

Abstract

Background: Qualitative/phenomenological research approaches are popular in counselling psychology and psychotherapy post-graduate training. This article attends to the experience of research supervision in this setting, where there is a need for containment, compassion, clarity and empathy (Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2021a, 22, 689). Aims: This article aims to bring the philosophical development of qualitative/phenomenological research back into focus. It asks what extra value would be brought to the supervision of trainees through existential awareness and phenomenological exploration. The authors offer ways in which existential awareness can be developed and utilised in research supervision. Materials and Methods: The results of a small survey into the experiences of students are used to ground our observations in practice. Results: A relational tension is implied, where trust and good communication are essential. An existential anxiety could be prompted, when a trainee's world shifts from being homely, to uncanny and strange. In these experiences of groundlessness, the world no longer provides a sense of certainty about one's possibilities, and one feels estranged and uncomfortably self-aware. Fostering this awareness can mean that teaching and supervisory relationships are experienced in their intersubjective, free and creative dynamics. Discussion: Attending to Threshold Concepts can support the transformational nature of professional training, which is often an experience of uncertainty. Likewise, Socratic Questioning and irony contribute to the development of critical thinking, reflexivity and the harnessing of assumptions. Conclusion: Existential awareness will enable the development of more authentic relationships across the therapeutic and educational encounters of training.