Ongoing research is key to helping our clients.

Those who work in clinical settings often think of research as dry and difficult. However this collaboration has been enjoyable, challenging and above all productive.

A commitment to the provision of services of the highest possible quality has been a guiding principal for the practitioners at Bower Place. This not only involves continuous professional development but also inquiry into the effectiveness and value of services provided. Research currently conducted commenced in 2003 and involves collaboration between Bower Place as represented by Catherine Sanders and the University of Adelaide, School of Psychology Professor, Helen Winefield and Lisa Kettler. The research has focussed on the client’s specific request of the therapist. Questions were asked about the relationship between the request made and the outcome of therapy. It was decided to investigate both the client and therapist’s views about the success of therapy on a session by session basis and at the conclusion of the process. The reason this was chosen was that specifying a request and the contractual nature of the therapy relationship is a key aspect of the Bower Place Method, devised at Bower Place.

Clients from both the Low Fee Research Clinic and Bower Place private practice are invited to participate in the research. A second aspect of the study has been to categorise client requests using the Bower Place method as a template. Studies to test the validity of these categories have been designed. The winning of a small grant in 2004 allowed for the addition of research assistants Edwina Farrell and Ann-Marie Wordley. Helen Winefield, Catherine Sanders and Lisa Kettler presented on behalf of the team at conferences in 2006 and 2007, both internationally and locally. Each presentation has been well received and generated significant interest and discussion.

2007 has seen the publication of our first paper entitled 'The Devil is in the Detail - Clinicians, Academics and Researchers Resolving the Problems of Clinical Research' which appeared in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy Vol 28, 4. Analysis of data is now well under way and many of the early challenges of collecting information in the context of a busy working practice had been resolved. Preliminary findings appear to suggest that both clients and therapist generally agree about the process and effectiveness of therapy with clients consistently rating their experience more positively than clinician’s self-ratings.The current challenge is to source additional funding as our initial grant has expired and to publish further papers on the data.