Counselling Unit staff are at the forefront of national and international developments in the counselling and psychotherapy research field, with a specialisation in person-centred/experiential and humanistic-existential approaches to therapy and to research methods ( see Research Publications ). The Counselling Unit is the only counselling training centre in the UK with two research-active Professors, and we have extensive links with other national and international centres of research and training.
Research work within the Unit is organised around a number of specific themes, contributing towards the Faculty of Education's Wellbeing (Physical, cultural and psychological) research programme
Research Themes
- Person-centred/experiential therapy: process and outcomes
- Existential therapy: process and outcomes
- Pluralistic framework
- Social anxiety: person-centred/experiential approaches
- Counselling in schools
- Relational depth
The Unit also specialises in a number of counselling and psychotherapy research methods:
Research Methods
- Systematic Qualitative Research
- Interpretive Single Case Study Research
- Measure Development: person-centred/experiential approaches
- Practice-based research
The Unit welcomes correspondence with researchers, students, academics and practitioners who are researching these areas, or who are interested in pursuing these lines of inquiry.
The Counselling Unit at the University of Strathclyde is a founding member of ScotCon – The Scottish Psychotherapy and Counselling Research Consortium – working with colleagues from across Scotland to develop the field of counselling and psychotherapy research.
Applications are welcome from students wishing to undertake research degrees (M.Phil., Ph.D.) in one of the above areas
Doctoral-level ‘Masterclasses' in counselling and psychotherapy research methods are also provided by the Counselling Unit on an annual basis.