In training – Travelling to new places

"I sometimes wonder why it is that a new destination seems so much further away the first time you travel there, than it does on repeat visits, or even on the return journey"

In practice - Apples of guilt and shame

"‘You know, there’s no shame these days,’ said one old woman wistfully to her friend as I stood behind them in the post office queue. I confess to eavesdropping to gain some clue as to what might have given rise to the comment. I never did find out, but it set me pondering the role that shame and guilt play in our lives."

In practice – Fear and longing between the sheets

"For the sex therapist things are relatively straightforward. After careful analysis of the nature and causes of the dysfunction, the therapist diligently leads the clients through a series of carefully structured and designed homework tasks."

In practice – A taste for intimacy

"‘I’m not good at intimacy.’ The male client’s words seemed to come out of the blue, and it struck the therapist as quite an admission, especially coming from one who earns his living as a counsellor."

Learning zone

Dilemmas

This month's dilemma: Cameron gets on well with his therapist. They have developed a quasi-supervisory relationship during his counselling training and now he thinks she might be an ideal supervisor

Student column

We’ve always been told throughout the counselling course that the journey each of us will follow during training will change us

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research (CPR)

is a peer reviewed, quarterly international journal. Visit http://www.cprjournal.com/ to read abstracts, receive regular e-bulletins and access the research glossary

In training – Travelling to new places
by

Alex Erskine

I sometimes wonder why it is that a new destination seems so much further away the first time you travel there, than it does on repeat visits, or even on the return journey. Is it that a new route provides so much more new sensory information that my brain has to work harder to process it? Or maybe it is uncertainty as to whether I’m taking the right route, and anxiety as to whether I’m going to arrive on time, that make the journey drag.

I suspect that there is a far more complicated neural explanation for how we generate perceptions of time. But whether I’m walking alone in the wilds or driving to an unfamiliar place, the experience can be the same. When I feel a connection to my new surroundings I lose awareness of time. When I am wondering how much longer the journey will take, everything drags.

The thought has been in my mind of late following the conclusion of yet another year of study and the imminent start of the next one. That makes it two down (three including a foundation), with two more to go. Sometimes it feels like the journey to qualification, let alone, accreditation takes forever. I’m wondering if it will feel that way at the end of the road. And I’m also wondering what I will find there.

I attended the BACP student conference earlier this summer, in part to find an answer. I left feeling both energised and deflated. The energy came from a session which challenged us on how to get the most out of the supervisory relationship. The deflation came from the reality checks delivered by other speakers talking about building careers: the number of registered counsellors has increased by 50 per cent over the past five years; every NHS counselling job ad attracts hundreds of applications; it can take more than five years to establish a self-sustaining private practice; if you do establish one, then expect to earn no more than £30k in total – of which up to 40 per cent can be eaten up in overheads such as travel, insurance, room hire etc.

These were not new revelations. I’ve known since embarking upon this path that working as a therapist will neither make me a fortune, nor offer me a job for life complete with pension and paid holiday. But it was a sobering reminder at this stage in my training. It leaves me feeling the same way every time I see a list of all those newly accredited counsellors and therapists: yet more competitors for clients at a time when fewer people can afford counselling and cuts mean that services which previously offered paid roles are now having to rely on volunteers. Given all the work (and money) you have to put in to qualify, will it all be worth it in the end?

If I was working with myself as a client I’d tell myself to stay with it – it’s all part of the process. But this is my future career I’m talking about. And since it will be a second career, it feels like I have less time to make mistakes.

I know the standard answers: use the skills and networks you established in your previous working life to help establish your new one. Be organised and focused. Sort our your marketing. Diversify beyond doing straight one-on-one client work. That all sounds very good in theory, but how will it turn out in practice? I’d be lying if I said it didn’t provoke anxiety.

And yet… My reaction, like that of friends who also attended the BACP conference, was ultimately to shrug it off. Despite the pitfalls and hurdles that stand in our way, we seem as determined as ever to make it. The hands-on experience we have tasted so far is more than enough to keep us pushing on.

As I look back over the year since I wrote my first ‘In training’ column, I can see what I have learnt. I have had my first clients. I have seen the impact that counselling can have on their lives. I have seen, to put it bluntly, that I can make a difference. I have gained insights into myself. And, appropriately enough since this is my last column, I have learnt more about endings.

I am reminded of that other truth about travelling: sometimes when you are on a journey, you don’t realise how far you have come. It is like when you are walking up a mountain. As you concentrate on the ascent you mostly only see a few hundred metres ahead. Behind you the valley floor is spreading out below. Yet it’s only when you stop to look over your shoulder that you appreciate how breathtaking the view can truly be.
Alex Erskine is a pseudonym.