CPCAB Counselling Research Award

The recipients of the CPCAB Counselling Research Award – in association with BACP – present their research findings in the following videos. This prestigious award is designed to disseminate research which is important for counselling or counselling training. We hope you find them enjoyable and valuable.

2023 Winner: Elaine Moore

We’re very pleased to announce Elaine Moore as the winner of the 2023 CPCAB Counselling Research Award Winner for her paper '‘Talk with me outside’ Therapists’ experiences of the therapeutic relationship in natural outdoor settings: A qualitative study.

This qualitative research is about the psychotherapeutic relationship and the possibilities that arise when therapy is taken outdoors and into public spaces for example parks, footpaths, and community gardens. The aim is to better understand the experiences of therapists who have gone outside with their clients. The paper highlights several key findings and suggests when taking therapy outside the psychotherapeutic relationship is enhanced and contributes to the well-being of both practitioner and client.


2022 Winner: Dr Dashnye Daloye

Dr Dashnye Daloye was selected as the 2022 winner of the CPCAB Counselling Research Award for her research titled "The experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic trainee counselling psychologists: An interpretative phenomenological analysis'.


2021 Winner: Amrita Kaur Sohal

Amrita Kaur Sohal is the 2021 winner of the CPCAB Counselling Research Award for her research titled 'A Therapy for the Worried Well? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Effectiveness of Person-Centred Therapy within a Sample of Suicidal Clients'.

Amrita completed her Masters at The University of Nottingham and works as a therapist with young homeless people for a voluntary organisation.


2020 Winner: Kirstin Bicknell

Kirstin Bicknell was chosen as the winner of The Counselling Research Award 2020. Kirstin’s research is titled ‘Transforming Laughter: An exploration of therapists' responses to client laughter’.

2021's winner will be announced at the BACP research conference taking place on 15 May 2021, co-hosted by the University of Salford.


2019 Winner: Dr Peter Blundell

The 2019 CPCAB Counselling Research Award was won by Dr Peter Blundell for his research titled “Responding to boundary Issues: A Qualitative Study”.

Dr Blundell is a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. He teaches on the MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice, which includes supervising students through their own research projects. Peter completed his PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University and runs a private practice in Liverpool.


2018 Winner: Sally O'Keeffe

The 2018 CPCAB Counselling Research Award was won by Sally O'Keeffe, a Research Officer and Research Tutor at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. Her research is titled “A qualitative study exploring types of dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression”.

2019's winner will be announced at the BACP research conference taking place on 17 and 18 May 2019, co-hosted by Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast.


2017 Winner: Tracey Fuller

The 2017 CPCAB Counselling Research Award was won by Tracey Fuller, an Education Teaching Fellow and doctoral researcher at the University of Sussex. Her research is titled “The Trust is the Work: Exploring how school counsellors maintain alliances with young people when sharing information because of safeguarding concerns. A Phronetic Case Study”.

2018's winner will be announced at the BACP research conference taking place on 11 and 12 May 2018 at the Holiday Inn Kensington High Street, London.


2016 Winner: Marta Shepherd

The 2016 CPCAB Counselling Research Award was won by Marta Shepherd, a graduate from the University of Leicester. Her research is titled "It's like I'm sitting in front of myself’: an exploration of therapists' experiences of countertransference when working with parallel client issues”. Download a presentation of this research.


2015 Winner: Beverley Spalding

The 2015 CPCAB Counselling Research Award was won by Beverley Spalding, a graduate from Newman University, Birmingham. Her research, titled "An exploration of Black and Asian counsellors' experiences of working with White clients”, was supervised by Jan Grove and Alison Rolfe. Download a presentation of this research.


2015 Commendation: Debra Powell, Mehboob Dada and Reyhan Yaprak

A team from Lewisham Counselling & Counsellor Training Associates (LC&CTA) received a commendation award. Their research, titled "Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Trainee Counsellors' Reflections on their Training and Implications for Practice", was conducted by Debra Powell, Mehboob Dada and Reyhan Yaprak. Download the research paper.


Aim of the Award

The aim of the CPCAB Counselling Research Award is to assist with the dissemination of research that has important implications for counselling training or counselling practice. Through highlighting significant research, documenting it on video and disseminating it for free online, the Award aims to make the research accessible and engaging to all counselling trainees and practitioners.

The nature of, and eligibility for the Award

The Award is in the form of a video documenting the research which is made available to watch for free online. All research submitted to the BACP annual research conference is eligible to be considered for the Award.

The judging process

Research will be judged on the importance of its findings for counselling training and/or counselling practice. BACP will assess the research abstracts it receives and draw up a shortlist for CPCAB to consider. CPCAB will then make the final selection.

Acceptance of the Award

We recognise that some researchers will not want to be involved in the production of a video on their research. For this reason the recipient will be asked either to formally accept the Award within seven days, or to opt out. Should the recipient opt out then the Award will be conferred on the research which came second in the judging process. If the Award is given to a research team then the team must nominate one member to liaise with the video producer in the pre-production of the video who will also normally appear in the video itself.

Presentation of the Award

The Award will be presented at the BACP annual research conference which normally takes place in May. An extract from the video will be shown at the subsequent year’s conference.