Feedback from An Exploration of Congruence with Louise Wilson on Saturday 9th May 2026

This was PCT Scotland’s second workshop of our 2026 series, our third year of running the programme. Twenty seven of us gathered to spend some time listening to and discussing Louise’s presentation and engaging in discussion and exploration. It was a fascinating and absorbing day.

Ian

I found this to be another thought provoking workshop. Congruence is the therapist condition which I find the most challenging to fully grasp. I liked the mix of quotes/ theory, and the examples that the participants and facilitators brought to the mix.  Really helpful for my growth and progress as a counsellor. 

Matthew

Congruence is the misty elemental nebula from which our ability to be forms. Sitting in a room of minds seemingly separated by physical boundaries looking to gently probe, meld and amalgamate into cohesion. I found myself enraptured, bored, intrigued, dismissive, brazen, reflective, challenging; wanting to melt into the room, to join the egregore and achieve gnosis.

Experiencing myself in relation to the mosaic I have crafted over the years, and in relation to the multiple persons present with their own mosaics open for interpretation. Food for thought, room for role reversal, for traversal into different spheres, returning to myself slightly changed, slightly new yet yearning for greater capacity for understanding, greater capacity for being, greater capacity for seeing. 

Laura

Like always, the workshop was fascinating. It has prompted lots of reflection on a complex and important area of counselling, and it was warmly delivered. 

Saskia

Just to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Louise’s workshop/ training day on Congruence. Louise’s clear and articulate style of facilitating this complex topic, helped me to familiarise myself with it again. I enjoyed the mix of presentation and group work and experienced them as very well balanced and stimulating for my own development. It left me inspired and full of thoughts about the complex work that we do. 

Gavin

I appreciate all the work that you all put into the session especially the slides.  I particularly enjoyed the group work and the group discussion overall.  These Workshops always give me more questions than answers at the end of them.  A really useful piece of continued personal development.

Helen

I can genuinely say that I really enjoyed the day and got a huge amount from it.  I appreciated Louise's facilitation and presentation of the workshop - she offered a great springboard for discussion and reflection with a lovely balance of warmth and inclusion. Thank you!

Jonathan

Louise took us through the different aspects of this complex topic with an admirable lightness of touch. The quotes she offered - from an impressive range of theorists - gave a broad and coherent overview of different ways of thinking about congruence, while the down-to-earth questions that followed them helped us to clarify and contextualise our own understandings. 

In the discussions, I became aware that I, and perhaps others, hadn't always been as clear as we might have been in specifying what kind of congruence we were talking about: the therapist's internal congruence or external/expressive congruence. It might be worth gently pointing to this risk early on if the workshop is repeated. 

Towards the end of the workshop, I was feeling quite agitated but couldn't put a name to it. (In other words, I was incongruent!) Afterwards, I speculated that I might have been frustrated at feeling that I would never be able to synthesize all the different takes on it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Despite that, I came away with a greater clarity of purpose: to support the client in accurately symbolising their experience.

Fiona

It was clear so much work had gone into presentation. I am still turning it all over in my mind. Thankfully I could hear everything and got so much from hearing from other attendees. I'm going back to work tomorrow after having a few weeks off, I look forward to noticing my congruence, how I express it and if I do not, what informs me not to.  Thank you to Louise for all her work, a good full on day .

If you are interested in joining us for any of the remaining workshops in our 2026 series please check out PCT Scotland’s website www.pctscotland.co.uk or contact Barbara Malinen on bookings@pctscotland.co.uk.