An investigation of the effectiveness of a voluntary sector psychodynamic counselling service

Clients attending a London voluntary sector counselling centre completed assessments pre- and post-psychodynamic counselling and at follow-up. Although there was a very high attrition rate following initial assessment, this did not appear to affect adversely the representativeness of the sample completing the later assessments. Clients were found to improve in terms of psychological well-being, control and various other aspects of their lives, and attributed many of the changes to counselling. Counsellors also rated the counselling as effective with most clients, and particularly those who were inner directed, had expectancies favourable towards psychotherapy, had greater perceived control over their lives, attended more sessions, and with whom an interaction/transference approach was taken. Clients with more severe problems showed less improvement in other areas of their lives. There was no difference in the outcome of clients seen by qualified and trainee counsellors