Written Work

Humanistic Therapy and Motivational Interviewing

Posted 26 Feb 2025; Published on the BACP website on 25 Feb 2025: https://www.bacp.co.uk/news/news-from-bacp/blogs/2025/blogs-and-vlogs-2025/25-february-reconciling-humanistic-counselling/

Having started my humanistic counselling journey from a philosophical viewpoint (per my course), as a social psychology student alumnus prior, I nonetheless initially struggled reconciling my previous studies rooted in quantitative analysis (dominated by p-values, statistically-significant differences, effect sizes, and the like) with humanistic philosophy’s emphasis on the qualitative (with hermeneutics, phenomenology, and themes being more prevalent). Indeed, I am thankful my instructors gave me somewhat of a warning (or at least, an FYI) regarding this challenge, to assist me in pondering a different way of learning and working in a therapeutic setting.

Post my PGDip, one of the ideas that intrigued me is William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick’s Motivational Interviewing (MI). I initially learned of this from colleagues specialising on supporting those looking to change harmful, addictive-type behaviour. Whilst this push towards change sounds counter to humanistic philosophy’s ‘let someone be their best self’ mentality, I feel it supports the fundamentals, such as the Paradoxical Theory of Change. MI allows a therapist and client to reflect on the latter’s purpose and drive to making a change (or not), via a model contemplating the whats, whens, whys, and hows of a certain behaviour or thought.

Decisional Balancing, for instance, asks the client to scrutinise the pluses and minuses of changing or not changing (ie. maintaining) a behaviour; if a client is exploring weight loss, a therapist might also help them ponder the reasons why they want to go to the gym (‘I might lose weight quicker’, ‘I might feel more accomplished’, ‘I would have more energy’) and what is stopping them from doing so (‘but I already walk a lot’, ‘the gym is costly’, ‘I have some equipment at home anyway’). The key is that this is still the individual’s own examination, answers, and ultimately, decision: it is still very much focused on the unique history, experiences, and perception of the client, as is core to humanistic therapy. Seeing words like ‘model’ or ‘behaviour change’ may send shivers to many budding humanistic therapists as they did to me originally, but as reviewed, MI involves a therapist being in a working relationship with a client as they discover, identify, and honestly question what their own goals may be, what motivates them and what stops them, and what is realistic about what they can and can’t (or want to or not want to) do.

Personally, I found MI to be a bridge between my previous learning involving process-driven results to being in an individual, therapeutic relationship with a person. Whilst I appreciate having my bedrock in humanistic philosophy, I was comforted finding a connection between this foundation and the also-familiar ground of the more process-based offering of MI.

Coincidentally, then, and akin to a parallel process, I feel this squaring of my own academic journeys has indeed helped discover my own self more as a therapist, and hoping that in doing so, I can better be with others to help them with their own discovery.

Bluey and the Paradoxical Theory of Change

Posted 08 Sep 2024; Published on the BACP website on 24 Sep 2024: https://www.bacp.co.uk/news/news-from-bacp/blogs/2024/blogs-and-vlogs-2024/24-september-bluey/

Whilst working with my clients, I have found time and time again that the Paradoxical Theory of Change—wherein change happens as one accepts who they are, as opposed to forcing change to be someone else—to be foundational in my work. I was introduced to this concept early on in the course, but the adventures of a little blue cartoon heeler dog and her family helped me crystallise this concept.

Bluey is an Australian cartoon aimed ostensibly at pre-school and school-aged children, whilst being useful for parents. It was created by Joe Brumm, who took inspiration from imaginative play with his children. Episodes are around 7-minutes long—perfect for a graduate student who appreciated a little break or noise in the background whilst studying. Two episodes in particular, however, grabbed my attention. [spoilers below]

The episode Octopus starts with Bluey and her friend Chloe playing a game with Bluey’s dad, Bandit, pretending to be the octopus, with the kids (puppies?) using their imagination to trick him so they can get his “treasure” (a hairbrush). Chloe for instance, points and exclaims, “a cockatoo!”, to distract Bandit. Chloe returns home and tries to play the same game with her father, Frank, but unfortunately, loses heart as Frank finds it difficult to match Chloe’s playfulness and unrealistic scenarios (how would an octopus see a cockatoo from underneath the water, after all). After a defeated Chloe mutters that “Bluey’s dad is more fun than you”, Frank leaves the game similarly dejected and returns to his computer. Instead of giving up, however, Frank starts researching octopi, discovering more facts about them to allow him to play ‘better’ with his daughter; introducing electric eels and octopi shooting ink allow the pair to improve their game. Frank did not change to become more like Bandit (even if, as he admits, “he probably is [more fun]”), but leaned on his strengths and his own areas of expertise to improve play with his daughter.

In the episode Granny Mobile, Bluey, sister Bingo, and cousin Muffin dress up like “grannies” during neighbour Doreen’s garage sale, with Muffin being a “Grouchy Granny”—somewhat matching her actual character in the show (much as one can say ‘grouchy’ about a toddler learning the ways of the world). Whilst Muffin’s abrasive behaviour presents challenges for her family in the series, this stubbornness becomes unshakeable determination when encountering an equally-grouchy granny taking advantage of Doreen’s reluctance to charge a fair price for her items. Standing her ground (her accepted playtime role mirroring her true self), Muffin ends up negotiating a better-than-fair price for the titular “granny mobile” with the buyer, to everyone’s delight. Muffin stayed true to herself, was in a situation where she would be appreciated, and was rewarded for it. As Doreen delightfully thanks Muffin, “you are one in a million.”

I look forward to being myself as a humanistic counsellor “for real life” as Bluey might say, and staying true to myself as Frank and Muffin have.

Academic Writings

I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaming!”: Preference for stereotype consistency as a function of a person x situation interaction

In this study, we measured predictors of prejudice when someone is under the (subtly and safely introduced) threat of death and uncertainty.

Work Adjustment and Job Satisfaction of Filipino Immigrant Employees in Canada

Self-efficacy and perceived social support on from different co-workers (co-immigrant workers, Canadian-born workers, and management) are examined with regards to adjustment and job satisfaction of a specific immigrant group in Canada.