Key aspects of therapy, psychotherapeutic outcome and client evaluation: a case-study of Living Life's counselling services in Dun Laoghaire and Bray
Authors
Barton, Jennifer
Issue Date
2009
Degree
BA (Hons) Counselling and Psychotherapy
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in Esource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
This study is a service evaluation of Living Life Counselling at a particular moment in time from the perspective of those seeking counselling and those who have completed / discontinued counselling. Participants were asked to rate Living Counselling Service across a number of aspects of service delivery such as: respecting the dignity of clients, maintaining high professional standards (among staff), maintains a comfortable and appropriate environment and provides privacy & confidentiality. The results identified that respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with the service across each of these aspects. In addition the study measured psychological well-being of participants. Amongst the post-therapy sample it showed that those clients who were dissatisfied with the length of time they spent in therapy were most likely to experience problems post therapy. A comparison of pre-therapy and post-therapy clinical scores (albeit two independent samples) indicated lower levels of distress amongst the post-therapy sample, which is encouraging. Nevertheless, it is hoped that Living Life will carry a follow up evaluation of pre-therapy clients at a later stage to determine if the counselling process has improved their symptoms and level of distress. The results of this research also indicate areas that the Living Life can improve upon to increase and maintain its service delivery system.