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Reviews

Becoming a Practitioner-Researcher - A Gestalt Approach to Holistic Research, by Paul Barber

Review in ‘Therapy Today’ – the Magazine for Counselling & Psychotherapy Professionals (journal of British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy)

Within the current (evidence-based) climate and the corresponding tendency to equate research with positivist methodology, the inspirational book is a breath of fresh air.Barber does not deny the usefulness of traditional scientific research methods, but suggests they can ‘co-exist’ with Gestalt-influenced ‘holistic’ types of inquiry. Thus he builds on the work of such writers as Reason, Rowan, Heron, and Moustakas, who stress the importance of placing the researcher ‘in the centre’ rather than aiming for an objective stance.

Written in an easy-to-read, personal style, the book is attractively laid out with many examples and reflections.

Readers of the book are encouraged to be active rather than passive and take time to reflect, both on the material in the book and on their own relevant experience.Chapter one provides an introduction to Gestalt and holistic inquiry.

The next chapter focuses on ‘Whole field analysis’ or the analysis of a team or an organisation as an integrated whole.Chapter three contains a useful overview of methods of qualitative inquiry as well as a discussion of relevant skills.

Chapter four’s focus is on ‘Exploring experience and illuminating data’, and includes a discussion of the shadow side of this type of inquiry as well as various types of bias (unconscious, perceptive and methodological).

The last chapter focuses on research design as well as analysis of generated information.At the end of chapters three, four and five there is an extended study, which helps to illustrate the application of each step of inquiry.

Overall the book shows that research does not have to be dry, but can include the spiritual and use a variety of creative methods, including art and poetry, making it a rich resource.

The reference to a ‘Gestalt Approach’ in the title may seem limiting, but it will be useful to both the novice and the seasoned researcher (of any therapeutic orientation) who is engaged in organisational consultancy or contemplating researching his or her own practice or organisation.

It would therefore be a welcome addition to the libraries of training organisations as well as those of colleges or university departments within the health/social care/counselling and psychotherapy sector.

Els van Ooijen (psychotherapist, counsellor, trainer and supervisor)

Paul Barber
Paul Barber
Born in: Middlewich, Cheshire, Northern England

1970s: I trained in psychiatric nursing at Epsom (St Ebbas & Long Grove Hospitals)and the Henderson Hospital before establishing a Therapeutic Community in acute mental health within Belmont Hospital

1980s: I applied Humanism and Therapeutic Community Practice to education and the public sector.  After being recruited to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to develop nurse tutors, I joined with the Association of Therapeutic Communities (ATC) and group analysts from the Tavistock and Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) to initiate a programme in Therapeutic Community Practice for medics, social workers and nurses.

1990s: I applied Humanism, Gestalt and Group Analysis to education, being recruited by the Human Potential Research Group (HPRG) at the University of Surrey to design and co-deliver an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies (CASS).

21st Century : I have acquired an international audience and been propelled into illuminating the potential of Gestalt to resolve conflict and to build communities, through the holistic process of its phenomenological inquiry.