The Transition From Trainee Presentation

THE TRANSITION FROM TRAINEE TO QUALIFIED
COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST – BY LEWIS BLAIR

FATEN SALAH
AIMS OF THE PRESENTATION
 Provide a ‘road-map’ to assist qualifying counselling psychologists to begin to

navigate this transition
 Normalise common experiences of this transition
 Identify factors that help us manage this transition (and those that might hinder it)
SOURCES FOR THE CHAPTER
 Literature review (including transition theory, developmental

theories, career development theories, transition support in other
professions, etc.)
 Online pilot survey
 Interviews
 Focus group with final year trainees
 Author’s personal experience
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?
 Covers the period from the end of training through the first
two years post-qualification
 External changes and inner psychological transition
DISCUSSION: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THIS TRANSITION
TO BE LIKE?
 In pairs, try to identify your expectations, hopes, and fears about the
transition to professional life as a counselling psychologist
TRANSITIONS IN LIFE AND CAREER
 Seven stage model of Adams, Hayes and Hopson (1976)
 A sequence of immobilisation, minimisation, depression, acceptance of
reality and letting go, testing, search for meaning and internalisation
 Transitions are dynamic
 Likely to contain both positive and negative experiences
 Regression as well as progression
 Common to experience disorientation and anxiety about change, and perhaps
cling all the more to solid ground, the 'old' things of which we feel more sure
THE SEVEN STAGES MODEL BY HOPSON AND ADAMS (1976)
TASKS AND STAGES OF THE TRANSITION
(RONNESTAD AND SKOVHOLT, 2013)
 ‘To develop an identification with the profession and commitment to the

professional sector to which the person belongs (e.g. counselling, psychology,
psychiatry, etc.)
 To succeed in the transformation from the dependency of graduate school to the
independence that is expected, both from oneself and from others, after having
completed professional training
 To master any disappointment with training, self, and the profession that may
emerge some time after graduation
 To keep exploring and defining one's work role
WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT TASKS OF THIS
TRANSITION? (BASED ON SURVEY)
 Growth in confidence
 Finding work (any work/ideal job)
 Finding my preferred therapeutic style
 Finding my place in the profession
 Discovering what I’m most interested in
 Recognition of this transition period – permission and
appropriate support to ease into our first post (slowly increase
caseload, slowly increase complexity of clients, gradually grow
into one’s role)
WHAT FACTORS HELP US MANAGE THIS TRANSITION?
(BASED ON SURVEY)
 Developmentally appropriate supervision

 Growing confidence
 Informal contact with other counselling psychologists
 Good self-care
 Being well prepared by training
 Being clear of what is expected of me at work
WHAT FACTORS MAKE THE TRANSITION HARDER?
(BASED ON SURVEY)
 Professional isolation
 Poor attention to the transition by training course
 Lack of mentoring
 Difficulties in finding work
 Sense of anticlimax
ASPECTS OF THE TRANSITION FROM TRAINEE TO QUALIFIED
THERAPIST
 Transitions often work best when there is an understanding of the considerable personal challenges
that they represent (Turner, 2007).
 Transitions were studied for trauma and loss. But research and practice indicate that positive life events
e.g. marriage, birth of a child or new job have as much potential for psychological disruption as
negative events (Williams 2008).
THERAPIST
Increased autonomy and responsibility
 A natural progression to greater autonomy

 Can feel validating and developmentally appropriate and somewhat daunting
 Early career therapists can take too much responsibility for therapy, increasing risk of burnout
(Ackerley et al., 1988; Vredenburgh et al., 1999)
 Baron, Sekel and Stott (1984) suggest that avoiding over commitment is a key task of the early
career period
ASPECTS OF THE TRANSITION FROM TRAINEE TO QUALIFIED THERAPIST
Becoming a more competent scientist-practitioner
It can feel like being pulled in four or more different directions (theoretical learning, research,
therapeutic practice, personal development and personal therapy), without a clear sense of how not to get
ripped apart.
This can help us consider and evidence the scientific approach behind our therapeutic practice and to
thoughtfully weave personal experience and insights into our studying and practicing.
Reflective learning cycle no longer ‘enforced’ by assignments
Need for pro-active approach to ongoing learning and development
The author suggests that a small amount of “extra-curricular” activities (e.g. writing for publication,
teaching) can help in the efforts to be a “scientist-practitioner”, to feel connected to the wider profession.
Evolving expertise
Acquisition of expertise across varied domains (music, chess, sport, writing,
etc.) requires 10,000 hours of deliberate practice (roughly 10 years)
Deliberate practice:
oKnowing your current baseline effectiveness
oSetting goals just beyond your current level of ability
oDeliberately and repeatedly practicing particular skills to try to meet the new target
oGetting accurate feedback on progress
oFinding out where you went wrong
oRe-adjusting
THERAPIST
 Supervision and developmental stage
 Case study: Kate

“Supervision was the first thing I recognized was different from the training period. Being more
responsible for own client work and my supervisor not holding overall clinical responsibility was a
significant change. I was given more autonomy generally, and wasn’t used to that. I notice less
teaching in supervision now and the priorities for supervision are more self directed. I still find
myself wanting formal feedback form supervisors, and have to get used to not having that kind of
feedback.”
 This change in the nature of supervision means moving from trainee supervisee identity
(examples?) to professional supervisee identify (examples?).
 Discovering and developing a personal therapeutic style
 The intergradation of therapeutic models and ideas is challenging for many trainees (Ward, 2011).
 The training courses do not necessarily provide a systematic and explicit way of achieving the integration.
 As much a ‘trial and error’ discovery of what one does and prefers, as much as constituting deliberate,
mindful choice
 Less focussed on evidencing our own ‘performance’
 Broader range of clients
 More long-term work
 More risk and complexity (generally protected from such clients during training)
 Link ongoing development of therapeutic expertise to scientist–practitioner model
Finding appropriate mentoring and professional support

 ‘Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in
order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their
performance and become the person they want to be.’ (Eric Parsloe, The Oxford
School of Coaching & Mentoring)
 A mentor may be a peer or someone more experienced; individual or group
 Usually informally arranged (may not even be explicit mentoring)
 May be especially important in independent practice or third sector organisations
where there are fewer psychologist colleagues
 Finding appropriate mentoring and professional support
 Mentoring can provide: a source of encouragement, advice, sharing of frustration and

challenges, reduces isolation, assists new developments in career and provides perspective.
 Mentoring should be distinct from line management and from clinical supervision, offering a
place for reflection and action on broader professional development and well-being.
 Broader professional support and connection can be established and maintained through
friendships, supervision groups, reflective practice groups, BPS events and conferences,
special interest groups and research networks..etc.
 Event and conferences can also be good ways to meet potential mentors.
THERAPIST
 Professional registration
FINDING SUITABLE EMPLOYMENT – FACTORS TO
CONSIDER
 This is a period of consolidation
 Does the organisation recognise the nature of this transition and
the idea of ‘preceptorship’?
 Will I be given time and space to grow into the role and build up
a caseload gradually?
 Will I be specialising too much before my general skills are
adequately consolidated?
 Does the work match my current level of competence and
confidence and does it match my interests and lifestyle?
WHAT WE LOSE ONCE QUALIFIED
 Clear, formal evaluation/formal mentoring (as well as the anxiety/stress
this produces!)
 Externally imposed direction and boundaries
 Continual reflective cycle (through coursework, tutorials, practice, etc.)
 Significant time spent with counselling psychologist peers
 Safety/protection from the ‘real world’
 Sifting through the accumulated learning and experiences of training.
Consciously or unconsciously keeping some things, discarding others
GROUP DISCUSSION
 What might you miss/do you miss about the training period and
trainee identity?
 What elements of trainee identity do you wish to let go of as you
move into qualified practice?
 What elements of training will you treasure most?
REFERENCES
 Ackerley, G.D., Burnell, J., Holder, D.C. and Kurdek, L.A. (1988) ‘Burnout among licensed
psychologists’, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 19(6): 624–31.
 Adams, J., Hayes, J. and Hopson, B. (1976) Transition: Understanding and Managing Personal
Change. London: Martin Robertson.
 Baron, A., Sekel, A.C. and Stott, F.W. (1984) ‘Early career issues for counseling center
psychologists: The first six years’, The Counseling Psychologist, 12(1): 121–5.
 Ericsson, K.A., Charness, N., Feltovich, P.J. and Hoffman, R.R. (eds) (2006) The Cambridge
Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
References (cont.)
 Ericsson, K.A., Krampe, R.T. and Tesch-Romer, C. (1993) ‘The role of deliberate
practice in the acquisition of expert performance’, Psychological Review, 100(3): 363–
406.
 Vredenburgh, L.D., Carlozzi, A.F. and Stein, L.B. (1999) ‘Burnout in counseling
psychologists: Type of practice setting and pertinent demographics’, Counselling
Psychology Quarterly, 12(3): 293–302.
 www.mentorset.org.uk/pages/mentoring.htm

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THE TRANSITION FROM TRAINEE TO QUALIFIED

COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST – BY LEWIS BLAIR

 Provide a ‘road-map’ to assist qualifying counselling psychologists to begin to

 Literature review (including transition theory, developmental

 ‘To develop an identification with the profession and commitment to the

 Developmentally appropriate supervision

 A natural progression to greater autonomy

Becoming a more competent scientist-practitioner

 Case study: Kate

 Discovering and developing a personal therapeutic style

Finding appropriate mentoring and professional support

 Finding appropriate mentoring and professional support

 Mentoring can provide: a source of encouragement, advice, sharing of frustration and

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