Conclusions and implications
Practising psychotherapy is personally satisfying, meaningful work but it also
involves significant and ongoing personal, interpersonal, emotional and energetic
challenges, as this qualitative research with clinical psychologists’ journal reflections
shows. A particular advantage of this research was being able to track these
practitioners’ experience over time and it was found that there were immediate
benefits from having some professional needs met on the psychotherapy training
days. From having an opportunity to develop and affirm their theoretical knowledge,
to have reflective time, to receive feedback and validation of their skills, these clinical
psychologists expressed increased energy, greater confidence, renewed interest in reengaging with their clients, as well as reduced feelings of pressure from work. The
findings of this study present an opportunity for practitioners, managers, trainers
and policy makers to consider and pay heed to the experiences illustrated here so that
the ongoing challenges of clinical psychologists’ psychotherapeutic work are
balanced by appropriate and protective professional supports.
This was an exploratory study with the journal reflections of a small group of
clinical psychologists during their attendance at psychodynamic therapy training
workshops. A limitation of this research is that these journals were written on
training days that focused on the interpersonal dynamics of therapy so this is likely
to have influenced the nature of the clinical psychologists’ reflections. However, the
reflections showed a strong sense of history these were not new concerns and issues
for these professionals.