Therapists and Counsellors
Are you a therapist or counsellor to young people aged 14 to 18 years, and would you like to help us trial 'U-PIC' by using it your therapy sessions with young people?
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The U-PIC form is a brief, shared decision-making tool, designed to facilitate structured conversations with young people (11-18 years old) around therapy preferences. This study is trialling the form for 14-18 year olds. Research suggests that aligning therapy with therapy preferences improves outcomes and reduces dropout. The U-PIC is not a diagnostic tool, but rather a clinical dialogue instrument to enhance client-centred practice.
Developed by an international team of psychologists, researchers, and young people, led by the University of Roehampton, the U-PIC is grounded in rigorous psychometric analysis and validated in UK populations. A team of young people from the McPin Foundation have helped to develop, design and test the measure.
Each scale includes scoring instructions to determine whether a young person has a strong preference in either direction or no strong preference.
The four dimensions, with a few items per dimension, are 'Working with Feelings', 'Non-verbal Activities', 'Directiveness' and 'Focused Challenge'.
The final, open-ended question on the form, ‘Is there anything that you particularly want, or don’t want in therapy’ gives the young person an opportunity to verbalise, in their own words, anything else about how they may want their therapy personalised.
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What is U-PIC?
Purpose of the U-PIC
The U-PIC is intended to:
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Facilitate conversations with young people preferences in therapy.
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Empower young people in the therapeutic process.
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Support collaborative planning of therapy.
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Identify mismatches between therapist style and a young person’s expectations.
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Aid therapist reflection and case formulation.
The U-PIC can be used:
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At assessment or intake.
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During routine review points (e.g., Session 4 and/or 10).
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In supervision or training contexts.
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Reused and updated in later sessions as preferences may change as the young person gains confidence in therapy.
Structure of the U-PIC:
The young person is invited to rate their preferences on four dimensions:
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Working with feelings (i.e., emotions).
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Non-verbal activities (i.e., creative drawing).
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Therapist Directiveness (the client or therapist setting therapeutic goals).
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Focused Challenge (i.e., how much the young person likes their thoughts or behaviour to be explored, or challenged).
How will I use U-PIC in my therapy or counselling sessions?
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I’m looking for counsellors and therapists of interested young people aged 14 to 18 years, about to start therapy, or in therapy, to help trial the U-PIC therapy preference measure twice in the young person’s counselling or therapy sessions.
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U-PIC is a short list of 12 questions that a young person can go through with you during two therapy sessions, about four weeks apart, using shared decision-making processes.
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U-PIC will help to inform the young person and you, what they want their counselling or therapy to be like, and they may feel more involved in shaping their therapy sessions. It may expedite the therapeutic alliance, or build confidence in decision-making with an adult, for example.
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It’s really important we get feedback about how young people experience U-PIC as it will provide information about how it affects young people’s therapy. After U-PIC has been used in the sessions, I will interview the young person about their experience using the form.
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It isn't about how you carry out the preferences in your sessions, it's about how the young person experienced choosing preferences in therapy.
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The results are hoped to help counsellors, therapists and researchers about what young people think about preferences in therapy, and how using the U-PIC may empower them.
Next steps...
Scan the QR code below, or click on the link, and fill in your contact details. I will contact you so that we can talk further about the study. Thank you very much for your time reading about this study.
