Solo Time in Na­tu­re as a tool for per­son-cen­te­red the­ra­pists‘ per­so­nal and pro­fes­sio­nal growth

Eco­psy­cho­lo­gy is a hu­ma­ni­stic pa­ra­digm that at­tempts to res­to­re the hu­man- na­tu­re re­la­ti­onship. Per­son-Cent­red ap­proach (PCA) be­ing a hu­ma­ni­stic and re­la­tio­nal pa­ra­digm could be­ne­fit and be be­ne­fi­ted by an af­fi­lia­ti­on with Eco­psy­cho­lo­gy. The aim of this stu­dy was to ex­plo­re ex­pe­ri­en­ti­al­ly the si­mi­la­ri­ties bet­ween PCA and Eco­psy­cho­lo­gy. A mini Solo Time in Na­tu­re (STN) was of­fe­red to a group of 7 trai­nee per­son-cent­red coun­sell­ors, fol­lo­wed by an open-end in­ter­view. The­ma­tic ana­ly­sis in­di­ca­ted a si­mi­la­ri­ty bet­ween PCA and STN on terms of open­ness, sen­se of free­dom and ac­cep­tance. Ch­an­ge oc­cur­red in con­gru­ence, in­sight, and na­tu­re con­nec­ted­ness. Two ad­di­tio­nal fin­dings were the per­cep­ti­on of mini-so­los as an ef­fec­ti­ve tool for the­ra­pis­t’s self-care and the sug­ges­ti­on of using STN as a trai­ning ac­ti­vi­ty in PCA. The fin­dings sug­gest a com­ple­men­ta­ri­ty bet­ween the two pa­ra­digms and a po­ten­ti­al for PCA to en­rich its trai­ning and prac­ti­ce by in­cor­po­ra­ting STN to the be­ne­fit of prac­ti­tio­ners and cli­ents ali­ke.