“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

- Einstein

Having travelled from not knowing to intuitive/tacit knowing and then finding words to voice the experience, here is a brief description of my PhD research project, conducted at the University of Manchester, UK and supervised by Dr. William West:

Title:
Therapists on the move: counsellors’ and psychotherapists’ experiences of training and/or practising abroad.

INTRODUCTION

We live in an era of globalisation, constant mobility and change. Diverse ethnic and cultural groups move abroad, facing the challenge of adapting their lifestyles and transferring their skills, careers, families and multiple identities from native to host cultures and often returning to their ‘homeland’ to sometimes experience it as a ‘foreign’ one (Read, 1996; Storti, 2003). Such ‘geographic’ moves of people, whether choosing or forced to migrate, bring considerable personal, cultural, linguistic, social and spiritual challenges to come to terms with; a number of subtle personal processes may occur in relation to‘re-defining’ oneself as well as re-discovering a comfortable territory where a sense of ‘at-homeness’ can be built again and family as well as career paths can be maintained or pursued in a comfortable and meaningful way (Storti, 2001b).
Counselling and psychotherapy are disciplines that are inevitably bound up with understandings of culture (West & McLeod, 2003); therefore, issues resulting from multiculturalism are inevitably of critical importance to contemporary workers in the helping professions. The expanding literature in cross-cultural counselling presents heavy focus on the issues relevant to the culturally different or immigrant client and the dynamics that such clients’ difference brings to the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship (Lago, 2006b; Palmer, 2002; Moodley & Palmer, 2006). However, there is very limited research looking at counsellors’ experience of cross-cultural transitions (at a personal, educational and professional level) and the relevant impact upon their life career development and practice. This proposed PhD study aims at filling this gap in the literature that has crucial implications for the well-being and training of sojourner therapists as well as the practice of counselling and psychotherapy in the current global canvas.

RATIONALE

It is my personal and professional experiences that have kindled this research interest in issues relating to cultural identity, cross-cultural transitions and their links to the practice of counselling and psychotherapy. The issue of being and/or feeling ‘at home’, or not, has been a powerful undercurrent in my life, which led me to a series of ‘transitions’ in an attempt to pursue my quests.

I initially came to the UK as a ‘foreign’ student to undertake postgraduate training in counselling. I then developed my professional experience working in a variety of therapeutic settings with culturally diverse client groups. These experiences have sensitised me to the pains and gains, the losses and opportunities for growth resulting from the move to a host culture as well as the subtle dimensions arising in relation to one’s original culture, feelings of belonging and the possibilities or hindrances involved in relation to transferring one’s life and career from one country to another. I have been immersed in a challenging journey of self-discovery and re-defining my position in the world. This was through exposure in another culture, in a second language and in a professional field, like that of counselling, which involves high level of inter- and intra-psychic processes with self, relationships and environment. Additionally, am aware of the fact that if I choose to return to practise in my original culture, a number of adjustments will appear necessary. This is due to two main reasons: a. counselling there is a new field, not officially recognised or regulated by a professional body and b. the cultural values and attitudes towards help-seeking in my home country don’t necessarily match with the western based models within which I trained and developed my professional identity (both those threads apply to other countries – Robson, 2002). There are many counsellors, like myself, who receive their training and/or professional experience in a host culture and either remain abroad or return to their original culture to practise a discipline that is often not well defined.

My aim is to increase understanding of, honour and give voice to practitioners in exploring and expressing the challenges and opportunities occurring through the experience of cross-cultural transitions; to explore the possibility for finding ‘home’ and maintaining well being and competence when moving between cultures and discover ways that facilitate the possible process of integration and synthesis of cultural worlds within our multiple contemporary identities. What can we learn by such experiences for the practice of counselling and psychotherapy in front of the challenge of the constant ‘geographical’ and ‘psychological’ mobility of our era? Here are some profound questions:

• What is the experience of counsellors who train and practise in a host culture?
• What is the experience of those sojourner counsellors who choose to return to practice to their original culture?
• What are the challenges and opportunities emerging for counsellors striving towards working in effective ways as they move between cultures?
• What is the interaction between the counsellor’s working style, as formed through the experience of cross-cultural transition, and the given cultural attitudes to counselling?

Those questions are examined through a lens that will potentially reveal insights and implications for further development in counselling training, counsellors’ personal development and increased well-being, as well as effective supervision and support systems for this particular professional group.

• If you are a counsellor/psychotherapist/psychologist who relates to such experiences, i would invite you to journey with me in this blog and possibly share your experience by leaving a comment on the blog or by email exchange or even arrange for a face-to-face research interview, whenever geographically possible!