🧑🏻🏫 At the beginning of each semester, before I ever speak a word, I welcome my students by writing a universal truth on the board.
It’s a lesson that took me a professional decade to learn — but it forever changed my relationship with evidence and practice.
I present it first thing, hoping the next generation will learn the lesson faster than I did.
RESEARCH IS AVERAGES. CLIENTS ARE INDIVIDUALS.
Therapists and counselors must know the science of their profession, but hold it lightly.
Even the strongest research recommendations may not apply to the person in front of you.
📊 If you were to choose a treatment that is 99% effective (and, by the way, there is no such thing), the person sitting in front of you might be from the 1%.
This summer, I heard a quote from Mary Richmond, a pioneer of the social work profession. In her classic book from 1917, Social Diagnosis, she beats me to the proverbial punch.
Over 100 years ago, Richmond wrote:
“In work with individuals, averages mean very little.”
I felt so seen.
It’s no secret that humans tend to oversimplify complicated things.
Therapy students bring expectations about research and beliefs about evidence from their previous classes.
With misguided (but well-meaning) encouragement from teachers and supervisors, they conflate RESEARCH and TRUTH (an error that no researcher in their right mind would make).
Instructors imply that “keeping up” with the research on therapy will empower new therapists to help every client and solve every problem.
This misplaced emphasis on evidence is just one piece of the perennial gap between research and practice.
🛋️ Bridging that gap is my professional passion.
If you’re still reading, HI! I’m a veteran art therapist and novice researcher. I’m “learning in public” — posting short essays as a way of connecting with like-minded folks and making hive magic.
I’m so eager to know what you were taught about research and practice, and what you have learned in the years since you were taught. Please let me know in the comments below. I respond to every idea!