One on One with Counselling Psychologist Professor Dr Terry Hanley

Can you tell me a bit about yourself and what inspired you to pursue counselling psychology as a career path?

I never really warmed to psychology during the first years of my degree. In my final year however, I completed a unit focusing upon developing counselling skills and this sparked my interest. It was more practical and brought things to life for me. I then decided to complete postgraduate training in counselling whilst I was working as a youth worker and a carer for university students. This led me to working full-time as a counsellor with young people and young adults for about a decade. It was only when I started my PhD that I returned to the psychology world by completing the BPS's Qualification in Counselling Psychology.

Clinical and Counselling Psychology are often compared. How would you say Counselling Psychology differs from Clinical Psychology?

I always find this a tricky question to answer, particularly as I've not completed Clinical Psychology training, or ever wanted to. However, from what I see, and other than the fact the clinical route is funded whilst the counselling route isn't, I think the main differences are the way that the different disciplines emphasise different elements. I won't speak about the clinical route here, but I have written a blog post speaking in much more detail about this, which can be accessed via this website. In short though, I find the humanistic psychology roots (including the importance of being a reflexive practitioner) and the emphasis upon working as a therapist that are embedded in the counselling psychology training, to be important in the development of psychologists. 

You hold a number of different roles; can you tell me about them?

A large part of my work at the University is working as a researcher. In this role I have been involved in exploring the development of web-based therapies and, more recently, the way that artificial intelligence is creeping up on the therapeutic professions. Whilst I am not particularly technologically minded myself, I believe it is vitally important that psychologists are involved in such discussions. Events like the pandemic demonstrated how practices can change overnight. It also showed how important the work of those that have been pioneering approaches for the previous decades was vital in swiftly upskilling others in the profession. Whilst I don't anticipate we will see such a quick shift in the near future, it is certainly difficult to predict how technologies such as virtual reality or artificial intelligence will change the work we do.

Over the past years I have also been part of the leadership team focusing upon the development of a number of the School's REF (Research Excellence Framework) submissions. In particular, I got to read the impact case studies produced for this exercise from four units of analysis (Architecture, Built Environment & Planning, Geography, Development Studies and Education – an interesting mix for sure). Whilst these spread numerous different arenas, they solidified my view that research can be a force for creating positive change. 

And tell me about your therapeutic practice.

I have always been interested in how therapy can be more accessible to those who might not ordinarily use it, but might actually benefit from it. With this in mind, I've been involved in therapeutic work with children and young people in school, community and online settings. I think some of this interest comes from my training to be a youth worker many years ago, but remains incredibly important in the work that I do. More recently I have worked on a football therapy project that was a partnership between Freedom from Torture and FC United of Manchester - if people are interested in this work, they can read more about this in the wonderful open access book Groupwork with Refugees and Survivors of Human Rights Abuses edited by Jude Boyles, Robin Ewart-Biggs, Rebecca Horn and Kirsten Lamb. Additionally, I am involved in supporting several staff at the mental health charity, Bury Involvement Group. These latter two pieces of work greatly prize the importance of being guided by expert-by-experience groups.

You've written a number of books and chapters; tell me about them.

Having the space to sit and read and write down ideas is such a luxury. I have been involved in writing things I've found useful for my therapeutic work, books like Adolescent Counselling Psychology and chapters about online and football therapy, and have been linked to my teaching (Introducing Counselling and Psychotherapy Research). The biggest challenge was probably editing The Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (most recently the 5th edition with Laura Winter). It is a beast with over a hundred chapters in it. I remember dipping into the earlier editions for assignments as a student and, reading through the draft chapters, reminded me how much valuable material there is in the book. Working with so many brilliant authors and learning about the new developments in the field has been great. 

What was it like being an editor for the Counselling Psychology Review?

Counselling Psychology Review was a bit like herding cats. I edited it for five years and I enjoyed getting to read so much of the work counselling psychologists were completing from across the UK – I love that my students still regularly cite work that was published during that period of its life. It was also great to work with Edith Steffen and Denis O'Hara as Associate Editors. In the end, I stepped down as it was becoming difficult to commit the number of hours needed to keep the publication buoyant. It was also time for some fresh ideas!

What are your teaching and research interests?

A thread that runs throughout my research is making therapy accessible. A majority of my work has focused upon the development of web-based therapies, school-based counselling and even the development of football.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in pursuing counselling psychology?

Be ready and willing to learn about yourself! 

Fauzia Khan is an Assistant Psychologist currently working within the NHS, whilst completing her Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.