Personal development groups in post graduate dance movement psychotherapy training: A study examining their contribution to practice

Abstract

There has been little research into the value of personal development (PD) groups in arts therapies/counselling/psychotherapy training, particularly in relation to trainees developing practice, despite a number of studies evaluating personal outcomes for trainees. Programmes assume trainees will benefit, however, how (or indeed if) the experience contributes to their actual practice has yet to be explored. This paper highlights findings from an analysis of the follow up data six months after the end of a weekly, 1.5 hour, DMT PD group for DMT trainees with reference to their reflections of the experience in relation to post-qualifying practice. The study was over three years, an intensive single cohort study which used qualitative methodology within a collaborative framework. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken (N=38) with trainees on a nationally validated, post graduate programme in dance movement therapy (DMT -now termed dance movement psychotherapy/DMP in the UK) in higher education. The aim is to stimulate debate and research on this aspect of training in body psychotherapy, arts therapies and counselling/psychotherapy, all of which appear to use groupwork for self awareness/personal development.

Counseling and Psychology Student Experiences of Personal Therapy: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

“…This synthesis focused only on interview-based studies evaluating students' experience of personal therapy. Examples of other types of personal development offerings during training that have been studied, and include; personal development groups (for example Payne, 2010 ), experiential groups (e.g., Viljoen and Gildenhuys, 2016 ), encounter groups (e.g., Brison et al, 2015 ) and interpersonal therapy training group s (e.g., Rees and Maclaine, 2016 ). There is no evidence that any one type of therapeutic offering can optimize personal development opportunities for trainee therapists.…”

A Review of the Creative Group Work Training Program for Facilitators

“…This understanding may then be used to improve their facilitation skills and responsiveness (Schneider & Rees, 2012 The training experiences reported by CSNSW trainees were similar to the training experiences reported in the evaluations of programs that have been said to enhance competency and therapeutically beneficial characteristics. Comments such as "pushing boundaries and personal development" and "professional development and appreciation," sound similar to the "therapist self-reflection" theme found in Bennett-Levy and colleagues' (Bennett-Levy et al, 2003;Bennett-Levy et al, 2001) evaluation of a self-practice/self-reflection training program and in Payne's (2010) evaluation of a personal development group's training. Both evaluated training programs were found to encourage the development of therapeutically beneficial characteristics such as empathy, flexibility and encouragement (Bennett-Levy et al, 2003;Bennett-Levy et al, 2001;Payne, 2010).…”

“…Comments such as "pushing boundaries and personal development" and "professional development and appreciation," sound similar to the "therapist self-reflection" theme found in Bennett-Levy and colleagues' (Bennett-Levy et al, 2003;Bennett-Levy et al, 2001) evaluation of a self-practice/self-reflection training program and in Payne's (2010) evaluation of a personal development group's training. Both evaluated training programs were found to encourage the development of therapeutically beneficial characteristics such as empathy, flexibility and encouragement (Bennett-Levy et al, 2003;Bennett-Levy et al, 2001;Payne, 2010). Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that the CGW training program has the features that can potentially produce the same outcomes.…”

“…At the end of the course, trainees provide responses to a brief questionnaire and they also provide extensive comments on any positive or negative aspects of their experience that they consider important. Similar to Aponte (1994); Bennett-Levy, Lee, Travers, Pohlman, & Hamernik (2003); Bennett-Levy et al (2001); Payne (2010); and Schneider and Rees (2012), this study will systematically examine this feedback. The quantitative feedback, (Questionnaire Part 1) addresses participant appraisal of the content and delivery of the program, and the qualitative feedback, (Questionnaire Part 2) provides the opportunity for participants to comment on the usefulness and acceptability of various elements of the training.…”

Korean Music Therapy Students’ Experience of Group Music Therapy: A Qualitative Case Study

“…These modalities also often seek to promote self-understanding, and a core goal of personal therapy is to gain insights about links among their thinking processes, emotions, decisions, with an emphasis on recognizing and addressing distorted logic (Sugarman, 2006). The following serve as exemplars of this: “more honest in expressing feelings” (participant B), faced introverted parts of herself (participant G), “an opportunity to concentrate on myself and enabled me to realize exactly what it means to be ‘me’ (participant A).” Similarly, Payne reported that trainee dance movement therapists that participated in a personal development group discovered “stronger sense of self.” This group became an opportunity to explore who they are and discover their “inner strength” (Payne, 2010, p. 205). She interpreted that members’ change as their ego strengthened (Freud, 1960 as cited in Payne, 2010), and they experienced individuation (Jung, 1989 as cited in Payne).…”