How do counselling psychologists working with children and adolescents describe and give meaning to their experiences? An interpretative phenomenological analysis
This study qualitatively explores the experiences of six counselling psychologists working with children and adolescents with regards to philosophy, policy, training, practice and professional identity. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to analyse participant data. Participants were HCPC accredited counselling psychologists in individual clinical practice with clients aged 0-19. Participants worked in primary care, private practice or 3rd sector practice. Recruitment was through the Counselling Psychologists UK Facebook page, The Division of Counselling Psychology (DCoP) annual conference and a special interest group of the DCoP. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data: 1) ‘Personal and professional growth and development in working with children’ - exploring the value attained from trainee placements and the significance of wider professional support; 2) ‘Working with children is “a different ball game”’ - describing how clinical work with children and adolescents differs from work with adults; 3) ‘Developing a professional framework for working with children’ - exploring the importance of taking a developmental approach and working with the clients’ lived experience; 4) ‘Opening the doors to counselling psychologists working with children’ - exploring the construction of identity through professional development. Participants seemed to take pride in working in a niche area of the profession and felt that counselling psychology could make a unique contribution. However, challenges and difficulties during training and post-qualification appeared to raise the question as to whether working with children was seen as being outside the boundaries of the role of a counselling psychologist.
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