Counselling and Personal Development

 

Repertory Grid

Repertory Grid, the interviewing technique on which Enquire Within is based, began as a tool for use in therapy. Clients used it to examine their relationships with the important people in their lives and how they could improve; repeated Repertory Grid interviews gave a measurement of the progress of therapy, allowed the therapist and client to consider new priorities, etc.

Counselling and Personal Development

Enquire Within can be configured for counselling and personal development in many different ways. For example:

• Relationships with key people in the user’s life can be analysed; the process of analysis may of itself suggest to the user where their problems and priorities lie. Additionally, the user could experiment with some ‘what if’ scenarios - for example, considering the differences between ‘myself’ and ‘myself as I would like to be’ or ‘myself as my boss would like me to be’; or between ‘my current boss’ and ‘my ideal boss,’ and then considering how the important differences should be addressed.
• Critical incidents and significant events in the user’s life can also be analysed, enabling the user to consider the demands they made and how the user responded. Again, you can play with ‘what if’ scenarios, considering (for example) the next critical incident the user is likely to confront, or using the results of the analysis to formulate the ideal situation and think how best it can be attained.

These two examples cover a great many counselling purposes, but Enquire Within contains other, more specific sessions which offer the user the opportunity to reflect on subjects such as:

• Events in my life where, looking back, I learned something. This does far more than allow the user to learn about his or her learning styles. It usually prompts long-term reflection on life’s lessons in general and whether the user has made the best of the opportunities they offered.
• Mentors in my life and what I learned from them: another gentle but inexorable reflection on how I came to be the person I am.
• My peak achievements and what were the enabling circumstances - in terms of the skills, content, relationships, standards, etc. - in order that I can perform at my peak more often.
• Projects, goals, and ways of spending my time: a guided reflection on the user’s personal goals, and how the current projects and time management contribute to their achievement.

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Twelve Related Resources

• A Case Study of an EFL Teacher's Personal & Professional Development: Employing Repertory Grid Elicitation Technique - Saziye Yaman

  Abstract: This study presents a knowledge elicitation approach; the Repertory Grid (Repgrid) Elicitation Technique. It describes this technique based on Kelly's (1955) Personal Construct Psychology. The researcher aims to presents a research investigating an ELT teacher's development through an in-service program in which repertory grid is used as a research tool. The grid technique reveals not only the change in the content but also in the structure and organization of the participant's construct system at the end of the study, which lasted a full academic year long. The study emphasizes the high potential of the Repgrid as a tool for reflection and provides useful insights into the personal and professional development of teachers. The findings suggest that the Repgrid promotes reflective process and teachers' self-awareness, and serves as a trigger for change and development.

• Self construction, cognitive conflicts and polarization in bulimia nervosa

  Authors: Guillem Feixas (Universidad de Barcelona, Spain), Claudia Montebruno (Universidad de Barcelona and Institut de Trastorns Alimentaris, Spain), Gloria Dada1 (Universidad de Barcelona, Spain), Montserrat del Castillo (Institut de Trastorns Alimentaris, Spain), and Victoria Compañ (Universidad de Barcelona, Spain)

  Abstract: This study explores the cognitive structures, understood as construct systems, of patients suffering from bulimia nervosa (BN). Previous studies investigated the construct systems of disordered eaters suggesting that they had a higher distance between their construction of the self and the «ideal self», and also more rigidity. In addition to these aspects, this study explored the presence of implicative dilemmas (ID). Thirty two women who met criteria for BN and were treated in a specialized center were compared to a non clinical group composed by 32 women matched by age. All participants were assessed using Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). In BN patients it was more common (71.9%) to find IDs than in controls (18.8%). They also showed higher polarization and higher self-ideal discrepancies (even more for those with a long history of BN). The measures provided by the RGT can be useful for the assessment of self-construction and cognitive conflicts in BN patients and to appreciate their role in this disorder. In addition, this technique could be helpful for clinicians to explore the patient's constructs system, and specially to identify IDs that could be maintaining the symptoms or hindering change in order to focus on them to facilitate improvement.

  The full paper, Self construction, cognitive conflicts and polarization in bulimia nervosa, is available for downloading in Adobe Acrobat pdf format here.

• Making things better: Personal construct counselling for young children - Deborah Truneckova Department of School Education, University of Wollongong; Linda L. Viney Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Published in: Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Volume 19, Issue 4 December 2006 , pages 381 - 394

  Abstract: A personal construct counselling approach that we are using with young children is presented here, an approach based on the construct of "wellness", a medium to promote the well-being of troubled children and their families. The case study we share with you shows a counselling intervention based on play, with experiments drawn from self-related construct systems of "making things better" rather than construct systems of "fixing things up". We present a case study of a young girl grieving over the death of her father. Emphasis is placed on the relationship of trust between the child and the counsellor, to encourage experimentation with relationship experiences to help the child to reconstrue events outside the counselling context. Working hypotheses drawn from cognitive and emotional developmental research into young children are provided, and the subsequent investigations which guide our intervention. Suggestions for process and outcome research in this area are finally made.

• Reconstructing An Erection and Elaborating Ejaculation: Personal Construct Theory Perspectives on Sex Therapy David A. Winter Psychology Department, Napsbury Hospital, London Colney, Herts, UK, Journal of Constructivist Psychology, Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1988 , pages 81 - 99

  Personal construct psychotherapy has rarely been applied to sexual disorders. In this paper a constructivist approach is contrasted with alternative methods of treating such problems on three related dimensions concerning whether it (1) is introspective or extraspective, (2) views the complaint as representing a personal construction or faulty mechanism, or (3) aims toward personal or normative goals. It will be illustrated by reports of the treatment of two men presenting with sexual complaints, and its technical eclecticism will be compared with integrative trends in sex therapy.

• Exploring Identity within the Recovery Process of People with Serious Mental Illnesses. Buckley-Walker K, Crowe T, Caputi P. Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

  Objective: To examine self-identity within the recovery processes of people with serious mental illnesses using a repertory grid methodology. Method: Cross-sectional study involving 40 mental health service consumers. Participants rated different "self" and "other" elements on the repertory grid against constructs related to recovery, as well as other recovery focused measures. Results: Perceptions of one's "ideal self" represented more advanced recovery in contrast to perceptions of "a person mentally unwell." Current perceptions of self were most similar to perceptions of "usual self" and least similar to "a person who is mentally unwell." Increased identification with one's "ideal self" reflected increased hopefulness in terms of recovery. Conclusions: The recovery repertory grid shows promise in clinical practice, in terms of exploring identity as a key variable within mental health recovery processes. Distance measures of similarity between various self-elements, including perceptions of others, maps logically against the recovery process of hope.

• Process of Personal Change. John Fisher's transition curve - the stages of personal transition - and introduction to personal construct psychology.
• The use of the repertory grid technique to examine staff beliefs about clients with dual diagnosis. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 2009, Volume 16 Issue 2, Pages 148 - 158. Central Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK. Manchester Assertive Outreach Team, Manchester, UK. Division of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. This paper reports a study exploring how individual psychiatric staff construes clients with psychosis who misuse substances.
• Personal Construct Counselling and Psychotherapy for Aspiring Therapists
• The Child Within: Taking the Young Person's Perspective by Applying Personal Construct Psychology (adjacent Amazon link)
• The Measurement of Relevant Change after Psychotherapy: Use of Repertory Grid Testing - RYLE and LUNGHI The British Journal of Psychiatry.
• 34 Purpose Statements, Mostly for counseling and personal development
• Click here to see all currently available tutorials showing Enquire Within used in a variety of contexts including a counseling context to explore family relationships.

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