Reflective Practice in Psychology: Benefits and Recommendations

This essay discusses the benefits of reflective practice in psychology and recommends ways to utilize it. It also highlights the importance of reflective practice in counselling and how it helps in gaining self-awareness.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 2
Reflective practice is critical for professional life
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ASSIGNMENT 2
Introduction
Reflective practice refers to the aptitude to reflect on one's activities with the aim of
involving oneself in a procedure that encompasses continuous learning. In other words,
reflective practice can also be defied as the process of paying serious consideration to the
real-world values and philosophies which notify commonplace actions, by exploring
the practice contemplatively and instinctively (Gould & Taylor, 2017). My enrolled
discipline is psychology (Bachelors of Counselling) where in my future practice I would be
involved in initiating and conducting structured, and planned dialogue with my clients. This
essay will discuss the benefits of reflective practice and will recommend the different ways
by which reflection can be utilised in the discipline of psychology.
Reflective practice
The concepts that underline reflective practice are quite old and they were discussed
broadly in the 20th century where John Dewey wrote on reflective practice, with the intent of
talking about his experiences, exploration, reflection and interaction in professional life. Soon
thereafter, Jean Piaget and Kurt Lewin also contributed to certain theories of human
development and learning that encompasses reflective practice. These helped in establishing
the fact that reflection is an imperative human action in which individuals evoke their
knowledge, contemplate over it, followed by an evaluation. Hence, the concept of reflective
practice is closely associated to learning from past experience (Johns, 2017).
Reflective practice has also been defined in the form of a dynamic, active, action
centred and moral set of expertise, positioned in real time that deals with actual, complex and
problematic situations (Gould & Taylor, 2017). Academics also incline to decide that
reflective practice connexions the break between the ‘high ground’ of philosophy and the
‘swampy lowlands’ of exercise. In other words, reflective practice has been found imperative

2ASSIGNMENT 2
in assisting professionals to explore different theories and implement them to actual
experiences in a well-thought-out approach. These can either be recognised philosophies
from theoretical exploration, or personal notions. It also inspires the professionals to explore
set of principles and conventions, besides finding explanations to problems.
Reflection in counselling
In the words of Elkjaer and Høyrup (2006) a portion of the ‘art of listening’
encompasses adoption of an approach that works towards ensuring that the client recognises
their story is being attended to with utmost priority. This is accomplished when the effective
helper and/or counsellor repeats back and clarifies part of their account to the client, a process
that is commonly referred to as paraphrasing. Hence, reflecting comprises of a set of actions
that allow the client to understand that not only have their spoken words been taken into
account, but their emotions and feelings are also paid attention (Bassot, 2015). According to
Johns (2017) while using the skill of reflective practice, the counsellors take attempt at
matching the feelings of said words, tone, body language and facial expression of the clients.
The potential advantages of reflective practice encompasses three domains namely, (i)
affirming what has been said, (ii) gaining an awareness of the current practices that need
improvements, and (iiii) recognition of areas that should be given considerable attention
(Knott & Scragg, 2016).
The process of self-evaluation should not be conducted in isolation. Rather the
process should also include the supervisor, which in turn will benefit the counsellor from the
neutrality, complexity, and awareness (Hickson, 2011). Reflective writing helps in gaining
metacognition and acts as a core element in effective professional learning. An assessment of
the writing during the process of revision creates provision that allows the explanation of
counselling therapy choices, and evaluation of the potential advantages and disadvantages of
the implemented therapy. According to Gould and Taylor (2017) under circumstances when

3ASSIGNMENT 2
an effective helper or counsellor uses reflection, the professional is expected to accurately
label the affective state of a client, with the use of either non-verbal or verbal indications.
In the words of Elkjaer and Høyrup (2006) counselling and reflective practice can
also be collaborated by attending for and retorting to the spirits of the client, in place of the
content of declaration that they are communicating. This helps the counsellors to precisely
sense their profession, as they are observing it. Hence, reflective practice amid counsellors is
found to facilitate movement towards increased self-awareness, which in turn allows them to
attain optimal health and wellbeing of their clients. It has been stated several times that the
voice plays an important role during counselling sessions (Lengelle, Meijers, Poell & Post,
2013). Presence of a high or low voice often creates an unfavourable impact on the outcomes
of counselling. Hence, maintaining a reflective journal helps the counsellors to determine
whether the voice was kept at a medium tone and volume, thus helping with clarity and ease
of understanding of the sessions conducted (Knott & Scragg, 2016). Counsellors also have
the duty of asking suitable questions at fitting time, in order to professionally guide the client
to reveal valuable information, thereby achieving effectual solution.
In other words, to be skilful as a counsellor it is absolutely necessary to reflect and
identify where working methods can be changed for the better (Lengelle, Meijers, Poell &
Post, 2013). Counselling can be a stressful and emotional job, and reflection helps to clarify
issues and improve the effectiveness of client sessions. A service user often wants to
understand results when they endure counselling. This requires the counsellor to meet a
plethora of professional standards, and adorning the role of a reflective practitioner, the
counsellor should ensure meeting these needs (Hickson, 2011). Thus, keeping a reflective
account will encourage the development and growth of the counsellor.

4ASSIGNMENT 2
Conclusion
To conclude, in order to be a successful reflective practitioner, all counsellors are
expected to recognise their professional domains where changes are required. The counsellors
must also have the capability of reflecting on therapies and approaches that did not work in
enhancing health outcomes for the clients (not all counselling strategies are expected to yield
similar results for all clients). This in turn can create difficulties, which can be accredited to
the fact that accepting the failure of implemented strategies can most often be discouraging.
Thus, a prosperous reflective practitioner will have the capabilities of identifying the positive
benefits of change. Thus, reflective practice will help the counsellor to perform their
professional responsibilities to the maximum standards. It will also ensure that the
counsellors do not waste their time on counselling methods that have not proved effective
upon patients.

5ASSIGNMENT 2
References
Bassot, B. (2015). The reflective practice guide: An interdisciplinary approach to critical
reflection. Routledge. Retrieved from
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317666011
Elkjaer, B., & Høyrup, S. (2006). Reflection: Taking it Beyond the Individual. In Productive
Reflection at Work(pp. 43-56). Routledge. Retrieved from
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781134252954/chapters/10.4324%2F978020
3001745-13
Gould, N., & Taylor, I. (2017). Reflective learning for social work: research, theory and
practice. Routledge. Retrieved from
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351905909
Hickson, H. (2011). Critical reflection: Reflecting on learning to be reflective. Reflective
Practice, 12(6), 829-839. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.616687
Johns, C. (Ed.). (2017). Becoming a reflective practitioner. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved
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6ASSIGNMENT 2
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