TY - JOUR
T1 - Adventure based counselling, individual counselling and object relations
T2 - A critical evaluation of a qualitative study
AU - Kyriakopoulos, Alex
PY - 2010/12/1
Y1 - 2010/12/1
N2 - Adventure based counselling is a short-term experiential psychotherapeutic approach, which utilises adventurous activities and being in natural environmental in order to facilitate therapeutic change in clients. The present paper critically appraises the results of a qualitative study that investigated how clients with self-reported anxiety and depression experienced participating in an innovative counselling intervention with combined individual counselling with such an adventurous outdoor transaction. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, as described by Smith and Osborn (2008), was used in order record and analyse the experiences of four male and six female students who were treated at the Teesside's University Counselling Service. Interviewees perceived the counselling sessions as offering a safe therapeutic space within which they could unveil their anxieties and achieve inner healing, whereas the outdoor transaction as providing an experiential venue for achieving personal change. Interviewees felt that without the outdoor transaction the therapeutic significance of the counselling process would not have reached its full potential. Likewise, without the individual counselling, the outdoor transaction would just have an entertaining event and not a venue for personal change. These findings are discussed in relation to object relations theory.
AB - Adventure based counselling is a short-term experiential psychotherapeutic approach, which utilises adventurous activities and being in natural environmental in order to facilitate therapeutic change in clients. The present paper critically appraises the results of a qualitative study that investigated how clients with self-reported anxiety and depression experienced participating in an innovative counselling intervention with combined individual counselling with such an adventurous outdoor transaction. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, as described by Smith and Osborn (2008), was used in order record and analyse the experiences of four male and six female students who were treated at the Teesside's University Counselling Service. Interviewees perceived the counselling sessions as offering a safe therapeutic space within which they could unveil their anxieties and achieve inner healing, whereas the outdoor transaction as providing an experiential venue for achieving personal change. Interviewees felt that without the outdoor transaction the therapeutic significance of the counselling process would not have reached its full potential. Likewise, without the individual counselling, the outdoor transaction would just have an entertaining event and not a venue for personal change. These findings are discussed in relation to object relations theory.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960445275&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13642537.2010.530104
DO - 10.1080/13642537.2010.530104
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960445275
SN - 1364-2537
VL - 12
SP - 311
EP - 322
JO - European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling
JF - European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling
IS - 4
ER -