Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

CHAPTER NINE 
CONCLUSIONS 
“Thought is no longer theoretical. As soon as it functions it offends or reconciles, attracts or repels, 
breaks, dissociates, unites or re-unites; it cannot help but liberate and enslave. Even before 
prescribing, suggesting a future, saying what must be done, even before exhorting or merely sounding 
an alarm, thought, at the level of its existence, in its very dawning, is in itself an action – a perilous 
act. (Foucault 1977;5) 
9.1 Introduction 
This chapter first looks at the differences between the two studies to show how the overall 
process of the work impacted on it. Then possible changes to the study in the light of completing 
it are looked at. Next the findings are reconnected with the literature firstly in relation to the 
poetic method for collecting data which highlights how the poetic/melancholic stance of the 
work evokes opposition; secondly in relation to the theory concepts and process of the work 
which intertwine yet when viewed together also bring some clarity to their inherent confusion; 
thirdly in relation to the findings poems which link my lived experience to the process of the 
work. The contributions that the study brings to practice, methodology and knowledge are 
examined and followed by some recommendations for future research.
9.2 Differences between the two studies 
The comparative shortness of the pilot study journals that were kept for fifteen weeks is in sharp 
contrast to the much longer narratives of the main study. At first sight the difference in length 
and the fact that the theme was not disclosed in the pilot study, but was disclosed in the main 

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study appear to be the only differences. The main difference is in each analysis and the processes 
that followed.
Knowing the theme of the research did appear to make a difference to the data of the main study. 
Freedom was a key word/desire in some of the narratives whereas this was hardly demonstrated 
in the pilot study. One pilot study participant wrote once that she was free to be herself and 
another wrote „free-flowing speech‟ suggesting that she was speaking freely without really 
thinking about what she was saying. Otherwise the term freedom as such was not mentioned. But 
words and phrases that could be interpreted as pertaining to freedom were present, like wanting 
to escape from the counselling, or wanting to find their own thoughts. The verb „contain‟ was 
also used in the main study narratives while only being used once in one journal in the pilot data. 
However the pilot study data did use words that suggested or alluded to containment. They 
suggested that what containment may be seen as providing in the positive sense of feeling safe or 
understood was present. The opposite feelings of being trapped or cornered were also present in 
the pilot data suggesting the other side of containment. Opposition was present in both study 
narratives.
In the pilot study I had to search for the concepts and learn more about them from the data and 
the literature. It is here that the understanding and interpretation of words takes on a crucial role. 
It is also where poetic skills and the interpretation of the narratives become vital to the work. If 
the original pilot study participants had known the theme I might not have had to search for the 
concepts in the same way. The pilot study established the presence of the concepts and gave 
credibility to the research through the participants‟ responses to the analysis. They agreed with 

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the analysis in the sense that I had discovered aspects of their inner worlds that they felt had not 
been visible in the journal data. It is their feedback that gives credibility to the findings. It could 
be argued that I found what I was looking for but the participants‟ feedback suggests that the 
analysis is valid. Looking for opposition, discovering the construct and the poetic stance of the 
work all aided the interpretation of the data. The main study added to the depth of this learning 
and clarified my understanding of the categories that had emerged from the pilot study. It 
enabled the idea of the construct of the containment-freedom polarity to develop into a 
continuum.
The study seemed to need all the time it took including the breaks that apparently interrupted it, 
yet perhaps enabled it to evolve. In the first few years of the study I had felt easily criticised by 
more experienced researchers when I used my own voice. But as time and experience allowed 
the narrative to emerge my voice began to gain confidence. I needed to use the power of the 
Beast to defend my voice. In this way, using my voice, or all my voices as a counsellor, 
researcher, writer and story teller of the participants‟ stories and my story, I let go of 
inappropriate criticism and owned my voice. Qualitative postmodern research methodologies 
suggest that claiming ownership of the whole of this process is appropriate for: 
“The researcher is always speaking partially naked and is genuinely open to 
legitimate criticism from participants and from audience. Some researchers are 
silenced by the invitation to criticism contained in the expression of voice” 
(Clandinin and Connelly 1994; 423-424). 

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Owning my own voice and becoming open to legitimate criticism enables the narrative to grow 
as my voice speaks through my words and improves my writing ability. My lived experience of 
research was growing alongside the study as was my ability to listen to and trust my voice. As 
these abilities grew I felt more confident and realized that analysing the main study and writing 
the findings poems used more of my ability as a writer. In this way the writing itself became part 
of the inquiry for as Speedy (2005) states, writing is: 
“a form of research that uses writing both as a research tool or craft in its 
own right and/or as a method of re-presenting the words of participants” 
(63). 
The writing itself seems to have become part of the methodology (Speedy et al 2005) in that it 
tells a story which is made up of many stories. It includes a narrative approach which 
incorporates the whole, the narrative of the participants, the findings poems and all the 
conversations between me and the participants that took place over time. In this sense it creates 
an “ongoing conversation” (Speedy et al; 67) that is invited and encouraged by the texts within 
the whole. It is the processes of analysing both studies improving my writing skills over time and 
owning the confidence I have in my own voice that creates the main difference between the 
studies.
9.3 Possible changes to the study
Looking back at the study now, I feel that it might have been of benefit to have been more 
persistent in looking to find participants via counselling centres so that they would have had no 
training connection to counselling. From their narratives it is possible to see that four participants 

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have some understanding of the counselling process and this could be seen as influencing the 
research. However their own words also suggest that their cognitive knowledge did not influence 
their process. For example when Wriggling Fish mentions separation she adds „even the dogs‟ 
which made me realize that something else was also happening. It seems that the poetic method 
enabled unconscious messages to override their cognitive understanding. In other words their 
cognitive understanding may be seen as a defence which their unconscious displayed for what it 
was while revealing the hidden processing of the unconscious. My concern originally was also 
that clients with no connection to counselling might lack sufficient commitment to take part in 
the study. However the one participant who had no counselling training connections 
demonstrated that just her counselling gave her the commitment to take part in the research, 
suggesting that my concern about commitment was groundless. It also reminds me that I should 
listen to my own words, the words in this study and learn from the experience of the client. Yet 
this one participant could also be seen as the saving grace of this study because by having her 
alongside the others it is possible to see that they each wrote their own stories and any 
connection to counselling just became part of the story.
I am also aware that no men took part in the study. Perhaps finding participants via counselling 
centres might have provided male participants. The tendency in the analysis demonstrates that all 
participants struggled to find the Beast or the freedom to be themselves. Their place in their 
internal worlds as Beauty who tends to do what others expect of her gave each of them a similar 
starting place. It would be interesting to see whether or not there is a male-female divide. In 
other words would men be more in touch with their power, their Beast who has no care for others 
and struggles to connect with Beauty as the one who cares for others. It will take another 
research study to find out. 

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9.4 A new poetic method 
The method used for collecting data proved itself to be complementary in that it fitted with the 
counselling process. The narratives produced by asking participants to write just a few words or 
phrase on each line evoked a melancholic state (Hilton 1971) in participants that highlighted 
opposition. They provide insight into the client‟s experience of counselling as well as 
demonstrating movement in the emotional shifts that become visible and felt through opposition 
and metaphor. The literature review saw how Ricoleur (1978) suggests that metaphor describes 
reality and how Britton (2003) suggests that the abstract, that which cannot be spoken is brought 
into being by symbols. However the participants‟ narratives seem to do more in that they present 
their lived and felt experience on the page. As was hoped the writing itself becomes a container 
(Satamurti 2003; Lago 2004) for the participants‟ feeling and experiencing selves. For alone, but 
in the presence of their others they discover the freedom to find their authentic (Rogers 1961) 
selves. It seems that such a method creates a space that makes it possible to learn more about the 
client‟s experience which Lott (1999) felt was so lacking in counselling literature. Gee (1991) 
feels that writing with such short phrases is a natural form of expression while Maltby (2003) 
suggests the use of lines disrupts the normal logic of sentences. However in this study it also 
enables participants to talk to their denied/hidden selves, as if a natural way of talking with 
ourselves is provided by such writing. Such a reflexive way of being enables the muffled and 
silent selves (Hunt 2004) of the participants to find a voice. 
The most interesting outcome/finding from the study for me, and perhaps for other counsellors, 
is that the participants‟ ability to tolerate opposition came from their sadness or melancholic way 
of being. I found this space after trauma enabled me to howl out the agony of opposition and 
anguish as I gave my feelings validity through writing poetry. The safety of the journal space 

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allowed the participants the validity of their feelings as they re-experienced past events and the 
sadness these evoked. This fit with the melancholic poetic/reflexive stance that brings opposition 
into focus is crucial to this study. Although as counsellors we might have a sense of this from our 
work, to see it on the page gives credibility to the work we do. The opposition creates tension or 
friction within the participants and enables them to make emotional shifts within themselves. 
Emotional movement/transformation in the internal world of the client does seem to be visible in 
the journal narratives. It confirms our understanding of how, when clients are able to reflexively 
re-experience their previously denied feelings or experiences, they relate to the opposition within 
these states and are able to move emotionally as opposed to being stuck.
9.5 Theory concepts and process 
The literatures demonstrate that the concepts of containment freedom and polarity are 
recognized as present in the world of counselling and psychotherapy. Jung‟s writing on the 
presence of opposition, polarity and instinctual processes gave authority to these concepts and 
helped clarify the categories that emerged within the main construct. Polarity, the pull between 
two poles of opposition that appears to create emotional shifts within the individual became 
visible in the participants‟ narratives. These narratives demonstrated the presence of opposition 
within the participants‟ internal worlds and this was confirmed by their responses to the analysis 
and the findings poems. The participants were also able to express some understanding of the 
categories which gives credence to the idea of a containment-freedom polarity as a construct for 
understanding the client‟s experience.
Aspects of the client‟s experience of containment demonstrated the polarity of this concept in the 
participants‟ descriptions of being trapped/stuck or safe/cared for; while the polarity of freedom 

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is demonstrated in their metaphors of power/confidence and agitation/frustration. Opposition 
becomes visible in the participants‟ opposing desires which seem to be encouraged by the 
melancholic poetic stance as unconscious messages are released and discovered within the 
narratives. The instinctual processes that Jung (1969) describes are at once visible in the 
participants‟ inability to change and then transformed through opposition into Rennie‟s (2001) 
and Foucault‟s (1984) agency as they begin to change and make choices. In a similar way the 
client‟s merged state which Winnicott (1965; 1971) suggests is needed for the client to learn how 
to use the counsellor may be visible in the participants‟ desire to be cared for by/be the same as 
the counsellor; while their process of separation may be seen in their metaphors that describe 
waking up, being turned on, like Mahler, Pine and Bergman‟s (1975) hatching process.
So much information emerged that intertwined theory, experience and the concepts that I omitted 
the attraction of polarity on the original continuum. This lack omits the idea of the poles of 
opposition being drawn towards to each other. This is made clearer by adding attraction to the 
continuum. (p.259). The containment-freedom continuum perhaps does help demonstrate how 
the categories are all essential if emotional movement is to occur. With containment and freedom 
at either end of the continuum it shows that each category may be an integral part of movement, 
as if to reach one it may be necessary to pass through other categories.
As the axis of the continuum, uncontained-unfree (the stuck position) perhaps holds the key to 
understanding the construct and as such is easily recognized by all the participants. 
Understanding from the analysis that this was a place from where they could look around and see 
where they were gave it meaning, it was more and less than just being stuck. In the same way all

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