Tuesday, May 26, 2015 | 10:15 – 11:45 a.m.
Neville Scarfe Library Block, Room 278
All are welcome. No RSVP required.
Robinder P. Bedi, Ph.D., is a candidate for the tenure-track assistant professor Position in Counselling Psychology (Group Counselling)
The Evolution of a Research Program on Counselling Relationships:
From Therapeutic Alliance to Group Cohesion and Beyond
In this presentation, Dr. Bedi will trace the progression of his research program on counselling relationships, starting with his co-authored meta-analysis of the alliance on outcomes in individual counselling and extending to the dynamics involved in creating group cohesion in mixed versus single gender groups. He will briefly describe how his early research findings, emerging research findings in the field, and the shifting values of researchers and practitioners have shaped his subsequent research questions and the future trajectory of his research plans. As part of this talk, he will summarize his most recently published article on the therapeutic alliance in more detail (“Gaining Perspective: How Men Describe Incidents Damaging the Therapeutic Alliance”) and outline implications of his research for future counselling psychology research, teaching, supervision, and practice. Finally, Dr. Bedi will address how his research fits within the mission of the Counselling Psychology Program and the strategic plan of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Robinder (Rob) P. Bedi is currently an associate professor of psychology at Western Washington University with primary teaching and administrative responsibilities in the M.Sc. in Mental Health Counselling and M.Ed. in School Counselling programs. His teaching responsibilities include courses in group counselling, individual counselling practicum, career counselling, psychology of addictions, abnormal psychology, and theories of counselling. Each year, he supervises 6 counselling students providing group counselling and up to 3 students providing individual counselling in the department clinic. His research focuses on therapeutic relationships in counselling (e.g., therapeutic alliance, group cohesion) particularly, but not exclusively, with male clients, and his secondary research interest centres on disciplinary and professional issues in Canadian counselling psychology. Dr. Bedi also has an emerging scholarly interest in cross-cultural and multicultural counselling with South Asian individuals. His research has been funded by organizations such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Society of Counselling Psychology, the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation, and the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research. Dr. Bedi is currently serving as the Chair of the Counselling Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association and previously co-chaired (with Dr. Beth Haverkamp) the Section’s Definition Committee for a Canadian Understanding of Counselling Psychology from 2006 to 2010. In addition to his university-related duties, Dr. Bedi has been a practicing mental health professional for 14 years and is currently a registered psychologist in BC, working part-time in private practice in Surrey. His counselling specialties are substance abuse counselling, rehabilitation counselling, and domestic violence counselling with men.