Abstract
The present portfolio includes a selection of the work submitted for the completion of the PsychD in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology at the University of Surrey. It consists of three sections: an academic, a therapeutic practice and a research dossier. The academic dossier contains three essays, one drawn from each year of training. The first essay is a critical evaluation of Pete Sanders’ chapter on “Empathy” from his book “The person centred counselling primer”. The second essay explores some therapeutic avenues on how to work with anxiety, from a psychoanalytic perspective. The third essay examines the extant research on working with psychosis from a CBT framework and the implications of the therapeutic relationship on therapeutic outcomes. This is followed by the therapeutic practice dossier which aims to offer an overview of the clinical experience I obtained throughout the course of my training. It includes descriptions of my three clinical placements that I undertook as part of my training. It also includes my Final Clinical Paper, which outlines some of the key personal and professional experiences that have contributed in my development as a Counselling Psychologist. Finally, the research dossier contains three research projects, each corresponding to the culmination of each year’s research work. The Literature Review consists of an examination of the existing literature on the experience of being gay in Turkey and Cyprus. Drawing from that, the first Research Report is an exploration into the subjective experiences of Greek-Cypriot gay men who resident in Cyprus. The second Research Report is a qualitative study, which aimed at constructing an integrative theory which can offer insight into the experience of being a Greek-Cypriot gay woman who lives in Cyprus.