Teaching research methods to counsellors and psychotherapists: overcoming resistance with innovation and creativity

Research training in the psychological helping professionals is often counter-productive, doing more harm than good, with dry or intimidating presentations that underscore the gap between rather research and practice rather than attempting to bridge it. In this presentation, I attempt to offer some alternatives to conventional research methods training, following principles such as grounding research in students' lived experience; reframing certain types of research as professional practice skills; and building on students' natural curiosity. I will present examples of research inputs that follow these principles, and describe the implementation of a systematic case study requirement with a postgraduate course in Person-Centred-Experiential Psychotherapy.