A Portfolio of Academic, Therapeutic Practice and Research Work Including an Investigation of Therapists' Experience of Loss: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

This is a portfolio of academic, therapeutic practice, and research work. It contains three dossiers. First, the academic dossier contains three essays that were written during my training. The first essay is a review of an article that offers a thorough look at the theoretical concept and practice of unconditional positive regard. The second essay explores psychoanalytic views of homosexuality and their implications for therapeutic practice. The third essay is a presentation of the theory and application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Second, the therapeutic practice dossier demonstrates the clinical experience I gained during my training. It contains brief descriptions of all my clinical placements. Moreover, it includes my final clinical paper, which offers a narrative of my personal and professional development towards becoming a counselling psychologist. Finally, the research dossier is comprised of a literature review and two research reports conducted during my training. The literature review explores therapists’ bereavement and loss experiences within three different contexts: the death of a close relative, the end of therapy owing to client death, and other types of personal loss. The first research report is an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study of therapists’ experiences of loss. The second research report is a Thematic Analysis (TA) study that explores trainee counselling psychologists’ experience of working with clients who present losses that resemble their own. All client and research participant names have been altered and replaced with pseudonyms in order to preserve their anonymity. All other identifying details relating to clients, research participants, and clinical placements have been excluded, altered or kept to a minimum to ensure confidentiality