The talking cure—building the core skills and the confidence of counsellors and psychotherapists to work effectively with multilingual patients through training and supervision

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundIncreasing numbers of multilingual people seek counselling and psychotherapy in a system that is rooted in a monolingual ideology. Despite these numbers, there is very little training for therapists and counsellors equipping them to treat multilingual patients. This is strange given that therapeutic treatment is known as the “talking cure.” Research with therapists and counsellors about their beliefs and behaviour with multilingual patients revealed that therapists were anxious about their ability to work with multilingual patients. Mothertongue multiethnic counselling service, a small NGO based in the UK, developed and delivered training for counsellors and therapists and culturally and linguistically sensitive supervision groups for counsellors and therapists working in their local NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Service. They also developed and delivered a module on culturally and linguistically sensitive supervision for IAPT supervision courses.AimAn evaluation of these initiatives was conducted, to explore whether they would improve therapists’ core skills in working with multilingual clients.MethodA combination of questionnaires, which employed Likert scales and Open Boxes, and face‐to face interviews were conducted with trainees and supervisees who had participated in these training and supervision initiatives.ResultsAfter the training and supervision, the confidence and multilingual awareness of counsellors and therapists improved, with an average score of improvement of 4 points on a 10‐point scale. All seven of the interviewed counsellors and therapists said they felt more able to use multilingualism as a therapeutic asset in the treatment of trauma and other presenting issues.Conclusions and implicationsThis type of training and supervision has the potential to change counsellors’ and therapists’ thinking and behaviour, enhance their core skills and impact directly on mental health practice and the reduction in health inequalities. As a result of these sessions over the past decade, and the evidence from the evaluations, linguistically and culturally sensitive supervision is now being embedded into the structures of one local NHS service.