By Adam Carvalho
I am often asked by people who are looking for some sort of support what, exactly, they need. I am an accredited business and career coach, and a foundational therapist. At the Carvalho Consultancy, we provide psychotherapy, counselling, different types of coaching, reflective support and training. So the purpose of this brief article is to explain what the types of support are to enable anyone who is thinking of looking into this further to make informed choices.
Psychotherapy
Let’s start at the deep end. Psychotherapy requires a lengthy training process (usually at least four years) and a lengthy period of on-the-job training (akin to a training contract). At the end of this process, psychotherapists should be able to deal with deep-rooted issues. These might be issues that feel like they have childhood roots, origins in trauma, abuse or other troubling experiences, or attachment styles. Psychotherapy does not necessarily need to be a long process but it is typically envisaged as being at the longer end of the spectrum.
Counselling
Like psychotherapy, counselling requires a lengthy training process (again, usually at least four years) and a lengthy period of on-the-job training (though less lengthy than psychotherapy). Counsellors typically do not go into such academic detail in relation to mental health disorders. Counselling will often involve issues that are deep rooted, as with psychotherapy, but it might also involve more common issues such as grief, bereavement, anxiety, troubling thoughts and behaviours, direction, conflicting desires and ‘parts’ of the personality. Counselling can be relatively short-term, or longer, depending on the issues which come up.
Different styles of psychotherapy and counselling
There are lots of different schools (or ‘modalities’). The main ones are psychodynamic, person-centred (aka ‘humanistic’) and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). Psychodynamics tends to look at the types of dynamics that we get into during our early life and how these play out in the present and has more of an emphasis on the unconscious. Person-centred therapy views human beings as inherently resourceful and striving for self-actualisation and aims to provide the conditions for the client to find their own answers and resources to issues they face. CBT looks at specific exercises you can do to tackle thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Many practitioners are now integrative – drawing on all of the above modalities. This is by no means an exhaustive list – there are many other schools – but it may be a helpful starting point.
Coaching
Coaching is often described as the new kid on the block and it is evolving quickly. You should bear in mind with coaching that the entry requirements can often be far lower than counselling and psychotherapy. Anyone can call themselves a coach, without any training or with very little. So it is worth looking at credentials when seeking a coach.
Coaching has traditionally been seen as dealing with issues in the present. People often seek coaching in relation to specific issues such as their career trajectory, personal challenges they face (e.g. confidence, imposter syndrome, sense of direction/motivation) or issues with other individuals at work. One misconception is that coaching involves an ‘expert’ telling the client what to do. In fact, the research – and experience of coaching – shows that the coach helps the client clarify their own thinking, address any limiting beliefs and work through hesitations and concerns in empowering change.
There are different types of coaching. Executive/leadership coaches focus on people in leadership/management positions. Career and business coaches (including me) focus on issues which come up in certain professional areas (in my case, in law). Some coaches refer to themselves as ‘mindset’ or ‘developmental’ coaches. In my experience, most coaches will deal with mindset and development – these are nearly always part of the work I do with clients.
Finally, the BACP, which regulates counselling and psychotherapy in the UK, has been developing a more regulated approach to the evolving concept of ‘therapeutic coaching’. I provide therapeutic coaching frequently to clients. I feel it can offer the benefits of all of the above approaches while tackling some of the perceived shortfalls – which I will come onto next…
Pros and Cons
Psychotherapy is a way to get to the root of issues. It can be a long process, and it is unlikely to result in ‘action points’ and practical things to implement (at least initially). So if you feel you need a deep dive and are willing to put in consistent work over some time then this might be the option for you. If interested in psychotherapy, you could consider Steph or Kate.
Counselling is a way to understand issues which are coming up for you which may not have such deep roots. It may be a quicker process and more practical in approach. You can probably expect more of a dialogue with a counsellor than with a psychotherapist. If interested in counselling for lawyers, you could consider reaching out to Annmarie.
Coaching can be a great way to start looking in a structured manner at particular issues and moving quite quickly towards practical steps that can be taken to move forward. There is likely to work on mindset, limiting beliefs and other roadblocks but less focus on deeper issues. If you would like to discuss coaching, speak to me or, for executive/leadership coaching, to Steph.
Finally – a) what is reflective/therapeutic support?
Many other professions acknowledge that if you work with other people’s emotions then it has an impact and in order to perform well and enjoy life, you need to process your experiences. For example, counsellors and psychotherapists are required, under their respective codes of ethics, to have regular ‘supervision’. In this context, supervision consists of talking to another professional and unloading all the troubles, frustrations, worries and other emotions to work through them.
In some areas of law – such as family law – there is increasing use of reflective support (aka therapeutic support) and we are instructed by a number of firms to provide this type of support. If you are interested in this, take a look at the following articles by Tim Rice (a therapist at our Consultancy) about therapeutic support for family law practices and mental health MOTs for lawyers.
About us
The Carvalho Consultancy is an award-winning therapy, coaching and training agency. We support lawyers with the ups and downs of life and the job, providing practical, insightful support. And we should know – we’re lawyers ourselves! Visit our website
Connect with us on LinkedIn: search for Adam Carvalho – a coach for lawyers
This article was originally published on LexisNexis as part of a mini-series on lawyers’ mental health.
