What is the evidence base of Reflective Training?

The evidence base for RT comes from two sources: research on human learning and psychotherapy treatment outcome research. Human learning research shows that building mastery in a complex skill requires distributed practice over a matter of weeks or months along with corrective feedback. This is why RT uses brief practice and feedback spread over several months. Psychotherapy treatment outcome research shows that effective counseling hinges on the balance of Non-directive and Directive factors. Non-directive (aka non-specific) factors include empathic attunement, trust and person-centeredness. These factors involve a relational element that emerges from co-created, feeling-based rapport. Directive factors are model-driven technical procedures through which the counselor guides the client. These include the key intervention elements that distinguish the different Training Areas in RT, such as CBT, CRP and Crisis Counseling.

The RT model helps providers to recognize and build skill balancing the qualitatively different techniques required for non-directive and directive counseling. This is reflected in the Provider Goals section of the upper right of the Feedback Form. Goals 1-4 tap non-directive techniques, Goal 5 measures how the provider balances directiveness and non-directiveness in response to the client’s presentation, and Goal 6 assesses use of directive techniques.

In addition to the evidence base behind RT, we also use an empirical approach in administration and development of RT. You learn to view counseling intervention through an objective, model-driven lens, and we help you use objective feedback to promote your own learning. More broadly, we invite all members of the RTN to use the data naturally collected by the RT process to help us study ourselves as providers and the practice of counseling/psychotherapy. Mesearch!