In the room: the question of counsellor presence

Abstract

As a practising counsellor I am constantly thinking about the art of therapeutic intervention. I know that therapy is healing for a lot of people. I see this daily, so efficacy is not the question fur me; the question is what makes therapy so helpful or healing? Specifically I have an interest in understanding what it is about the counsellor that makes therapy healing for some people. Does counsellor presence contribute to healing? The concept of therapeutic presence is not widely discussed or investigated in counselling literature. However, what is written highlights that presence may have a positive influence on the counselling relationship. Additionally, the literature contends that when a counsellor connects with their presence, they may have the ability to touch someone in their deepest core, creating the opportunity for healing. But how does the counsellor embody presence? This thesis explores how the notion of presence is both constructed and given meaning in counselling practice. As such, it aims to contribute to an understanding of presence by attending to four counsellors lived experience of it. This is achieved by qualitative research using a mixed method approach to collect data. Participants were invited to write about experiences of their presence in the room. Then they were interviewed in a semi-structured manner with prompts constructed from their written reflections and the research question. With constructionist eyes and an interpretive worldview, the data was considered using a grounded theory model. Three core themes emerged from the findings: the concepts of authenticity, preparedness, and the use of self. In combination these three concepts offer the possibility for the counsellor to consider the quality of their presence and to build a quality of presence that may be embodied. Within this discussion, minor themes of languaging presence and training counsellors about the quality of presence are appraised. Although an answer to the question of presence can only ever be approximate, the data in this thesis indicate that a counsellor's presence is an essential ingredient in the counselling relationship and can be a healing quality.