Becoming a Psychotherapist: Learning Practices and Identity Construction Across Communities of Practice

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Sciences
• Education

Background:

• Groups function as communities of practice, shaping knowledge, learning, and identity.
• Understanding how participation in diverse groups influences professional development is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how lifelong group participation contributes to the professional development of psychotherapy trainees.
• To identify key group properties and learning characteristics that foster professional growth.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews with psychotherapy trainees.
• Focus on experiences within the C.O.I.R.A.G. graduate program in group psychotherapy.

Main Results:

• Trainees develop meta-learning across different groups, not just within single ones.
• Group properties like transversality, duration, and informality are highly formative.
• Learning is triggered by critical events and negative affect, organized around group dynamics, and evolves over time.

Conclusions:

• Professional identities are constructed through learning in multiple communities of practice and elaborated via self-narratives.
• Self-narratives are vital for developing self-reflexive professionals skilled in group dynamics.
• Findings enhance understanding of situated learning and inform psychotherapy training.