Abstract
This is a portfolio of academic, therapeutic practice and research work. The portfolio consists of three dossiers that demonstrate my personal and professional development during my three years of training. The academic dossier contains three selected essays that were compiled through the course of my studies. The first essay explores the concept of resistance within psychodynamic theory and practice. This essay describes the expressions and functions of resistance, highlighting how client and therapist resistance shapes the therapeutic relationship. The second essay draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) theory and practice. This essay attempts to highlight the complexity, challenges and benefits of using CBT with older adults. In particular, this essay examines how CBT influences the therapeutic relationship when working with this specific client group. The third essay considers how a person-centred approach understands and conceptualises human distress, whilst critiquing the use of classification systems such as the DSM-IV-TR and the ICD-10. This essay also illustrates how a person-centred practitioner would engage therapeutically with a client presenting with obsessive compulsive personality disorder traits. The therapeutic practice dossier focuses on my clinical experience. It contains a description of my three clinical placements and includes my ‘Final Clinical Paper’. This paper provides a personal account of my journey towards becoming a counselling psychologist, explaining how theory and practice have shaped the practitioner and individual that I am today. Finally, the research dossier is comprised of a literature review and two qualitative research reports. The literature review addresses the psychodynamic phenomenon of countertransference within the supervisory relationship and discusses how supervisee and supervisor styles of relating colour the supervisory relationship. The first research report is an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) that examines how psychodynamic supervisors experience countertransference in supervision. The second research report uses Thematic Analysis (TA) to explore how trainee practitioners experience the psychodynamic supervisory relationship.