ABSTRACT
I n this final chapter I connect the trainees' feedback with some of my original speculations, before moving on to comment on a number of related training issues for the future.
As anticipated the group experience per se was acknowledged as a potentially beneficial forum for learning, provided that factors of size, frequency, and regularity of meetings could be ensured. The nine hours allotted to the PPD meetings of the small groups (Institution B) during the first week of the training proved invaluable, rapidly creating a cohesiveness within the groups. Further positive effects commented on by group leaders, course staff, and trainees include the trainees' willingness to work together, a sense of mutual support, and a considerable degree of openness. What is less clear is whether there would be a shift in the ethos of the module from a personal! professional training tool towards a more therapy-oriented milieu if the groups were to meet more frequently. Some recognized parallels with clients voicing their feelings and opinions "publicly" in the process of therapy. A common denominator between families in the early stages of therapy and trainees in the early stages of training is that everyone is vulnerable to feeling de-skilled, despite their competence in other aspects of their lives.
