By Mark Farrall
Working with trauma, supervision, and neurological models based on animal paradigms were among the topics covered by keynote speakers at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Association of Integrative Coach-Therapist Professionals (AICTP) on 9 February, which highlighted continuing interest in ‘integration’ between and around coaching and therapy.
Julia Vaughan Smith defined trauma as the ‘lasting impact’ on the networks of our internal systems and – more importantly its effects on how we feel, experience and respond to others. She discussed trauma as encompassing and affecting every aspect of human experience, including the somatic or physiological, and not just the perhaps-more expected emotional and cognitive, leading to a ‘trauma self’ and a ‘survival self’ which exist in tension.
Only though therapeutically-informed interventions aimed at the ‘healthy self’, which promote autonomy and link the ‘there and then’ with the ‘here and now’ can we help clients develop and grow.
Michelle Lucas was present in body and her colleague Dr Louise Sheppard in pre-recorded video form to discuss and explore research on supervision. Jointly, they presented a clear model of research detailing the themes by which supervisees can inhibit their own supervision performance, or enable themselves to get the most out of it. Inhibitors focus on our personal insecurity and unwillingness to take a lead in supervision as a co-constructed process, while enablers require an active participation, even to the point of bidding farewell to your supervisor if it is not working!
The final keynote, Dr Trevor Gedeon, elaborated the ‘chimp model’, drawing on neurology and the well-known Chimp Paradox book to present how our emotional brain is liable to hi-jack under stress, causing our more rational capacities to close down, affecting our behaviour (usually in less-than-helpful ways!).
An extensive roster of parallel session presenters added to proceedings. Diane Danzebrink’s presentation on menopause transition and coaching highlighted the importance of this issue affecting 50% of the human race, and Kate Manley spoke on mindfulness-based ‘deep coaching’ featuring the Enneagram personality model. A survey of coaching sponsors in London law firms presented by Mark Hicks showed that more than 80 % of said sponsors think it valuable for a coach to have ‘counselling skills’ – without having any clear idea of what this means! Good news for those coaches who possess such skills however, implying a wider recognition of their value outside this specific sector.
Yannick Jacob and Carley Sime explored research on the boundaries between coaching and counselling and how coaches negotiate their role and borders of their work, while Dr Pat Gwyer presented at length on the intricate relationships between coaching, wellbeing, positive psychology, happiness sand success. Finally, Michelle Lucas re-appeared solo using the children’s game Misfits to help attendees explore and develop their unique ‘practitioner signature’ and celebrate their ‘misfitry’.
Mark Farrall is a past chair of the AICTP