A Portfolio of Academic, Therapeutic Practice and Research Work: Including a Grounded Theory Investigation of the Processes between Parents of Children in Care and Social Workers.

This portfolio contains a selection of the academic, clinical and empirical work that I undertook whilst completing my Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology at the University of Surrey. The portfolio consists of three dossiers; an academic dossier, a therapeutic practice dossier and a research dossier. The academic dossier contains three pieces of work written from different theoretical perspectives at different stages in my training. The first piece of work was completed in my first year and reviews a chapter on the person-centred concept of ‘incongruence’. This is followed by an essay, written in my second year, which seeks to understand the link between mental distress and physical symptoms within a psychoanalytic framework. The third piece of work, completed in my final year, is an essay looking at how power is understood and negotiated in cognitive behavioural therapy. The therapeutic practice dossier provides some insight into my clinical experiences and competencies by presenting the range of placements and clients I have worked with. This dossier also contains my final clinical paper, which I hope captures some of my growth and development whilst training to be a counselling psychologist. The final dossier consists of a literature review, which looks at family support from a counselling psychology perspective, and two pieces of qualitative research related to this area