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I am delighted to announce that I will be keynoting at Accord’s National Conference in Galway, March 2003. As part of the process, I have reviewed some of Accord's work to date.
Recent research with over 3500 Accord clients conducted by Social and Economic Research Consultants makes for very interesting reading.
Please find below a sample of their findings and my associated comments.
“Clients – and not counsellors are the main determinants of outcome effectiveness,”
Comment: Put simpler, if its to be it’s up to me. The client is the problem, but also the solution. You are only guaranteed a successful outcome, if the client is committed to the process. Personal development without personal commitment clearly does not work.
“Half of all men – both in their own assessment and in the assessment of their partners tend to avoid conflict; about a quarter of women also see themselves and are seen by their partners as avoidant; this is the one area where there is considerable agreement between men and women.
For men, the experience of being criticised by one’s partner has a particularly negative effect on marital quality – three times stronger than on the impact on women. Not being listened to by one's partner is the most negative influence on womens experience of the relationship.”
Comment: Does this yet again point to the marked inability of many males to express their emotions/ deal with matters of the heart? If so, it is clear that we need to work on imparting this ability within the education system. Hopefully “Looking Ahead and Living Now” will help in this respect.
About half of all clients (54%) spent up to six months thinking about coming to counselling, the remainder (46%) taking longer.
Comment: this appears to be an awful long time to suffer in a relationship before taking action. Why does this happen?
“People tend to see themselves differently from the way their partner sees and experiences them.”
Comment: I believe that the more both individuals in a couple work on themselves, the more they begin to see reality as it is both individually and collectively. If you have one partner committed to personal growth and the other happy to stagnate, you have potential problems.
“Rather than professional training or experience, it looks as though differences in personal qualities make some therapists more helpful. It appears then that the effectiveness of counselling in Accord is more affected by the personal qualities of counsellors, than by their professional training or experience. We also found that the gender of counsellors had no effect on outcomes.”
Comment: Can one deduce from this that the more the counsellor develops himself or herself, the more effective they will be with the couple? I believe so.
"The effectiveness of therapy is indicated by the fact that in general, cases which receive treatment tend to do better than untreated cases in about seven out of ten cases."
Comment: It works and that’s a fact.
For more information contact Accord, Columba Centre, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at
November 18, 2003 11:32 AM
well done young man, congratulations!
Posted by: Paul at November 18, 2003 11:53 AM