This thesis addresses four research questions: 1. Are counsellors changed by their clients? 2. If so, how do they make meaning of any change? 3. How does the academic literature explain these changes? 4. How do counsellors ensure change is positive?Previous research has largely focused on the negative effects of clients' stories on counsellors. The potentially positive impact is relatively unexplored - despite the fact that research suggests that it is possible for people who directly experience a wide range of traumatic experiences to grow as a result (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). Moreover, a handful of research studies has suggested that it is possible to experience these changes vicariously (Manning-Jones, deTerte & Stephens, 2015). This thesis describes a qualitative research study carried out with eight counsellors who worked either in a hospice (counselling clients experiencing bereavement or illness) or in private practice (counselling clients who had experienced sexual violence). Narrative inquiry and autoethnography were used to collect and analyse counsellors' stories of being changed by their clients and re-presented as poetic representation, visual art and polyvocal texts. The results show that counsellors do indeed share stories of being changed: sometimes for the worse but often for the better. These changes are in the areas of self-perception, interpersonal relationships and life philosophy and are largely consistent with conceptualisations of vicarious posttraumatic growth. However, what drives change is different. In hospice counsellors, mortality awareness is the driver for change; whereas human cruelty and brutality is the driver in counsellors who work with clients who have experienced sexual violence. Counsellors draw on a number of alternative discourses to make meaning of their experience and this reflects different counselling modalities. The counsellors' stories of change may represent personal growth or reflect western metanarratives linked to a quest for identity. These findings are discussed in relation to the training and supervision of practitioners.

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The purpose of the study was to gain insight into how psychologists experience resiliency, satisfaction, and personal growth despite the challenges (e.g., vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue) of working with trauma survivors. While it cannot be ignored that many psychologists experience negative effects related to working with traumatized clients, it is important to acknowledge the potential to experience resiliency and growth from their work with trauma survivors. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to explore the lived experiences of vicarious resiliency and growth in psychologists who work with trauma survivors. Data was collected through an in-depth individual semi-structured interview with six psychologists. The data generated was transcribed and analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Results revealed four major themes: privileging a shared journey, developing purpose and personal growth, deriving positive meaning, and serving humanity with an overarching theme of maintaining resiliency. The current study provided a valuable contribution to the limited literature on psychologists’ ability to foster positive outcomes for themselves through focusing on resiliency, satisfaction, and growth, despite the inherent risks of trauma work. Applications to practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study investigated how therapists working with children and youth victims of interpersonal trauma (e.g. sexual abuse) are impacted by the resilience processes of their clients. Qualitative multiple case study design and thematic analysis were used to explore the research question. Four counselors working in an organization providing services to victims of trauma were interviewed and asked about how the act of bearing witness to the resilience of their clients affected their personal lives and clinical practice. The findings showed that for the participants there was an increased sense of hope and optimism, and an intense sense of being inspired by the strengths of clients as result of working with this population. To reflect about the challenges faced by clients allowed counselors to put their own challenges and strengths into perspective. In addition, they reported positive changes in their personal relationships. Further research is suggested, including further investigation about the relationship between optimism, hope and vicarious resilience processes as well as between the counseling approach adopted and the development of vicarious resilience responses. / Graduate / 0621 / 0622 / 0347 / fabianesilveira@gmail.com

Trauma therapists increasingly use EMDR when working with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma clients as it is recommended by NICE guidelines (2005) however until recently research focused on the negative impact of trauma work. Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) appears to be the most commonly used term for ‘growth’ however attempts to define and measure it can be criticised for being reductionist in approach as it reduced five factors into three outcomes based on the client’s growth. Research on trauma therapists’ growth has relied on client definitions that is; Vicarious PTG is based on PTG although there are a couple of studies which collaborate these findings. This study aims to address the literature and practitioner gap by exploring EMDR therapists’ lived experiences of ‘vicarious growth’ when working with PTSD symptom clients. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from a homogeneous sample of six EMDR therapists who stated that they had positive experiences or experienced growth (positive change) when working with PTSD symptom clients. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. Rich, detailed findings in terms of how ‘growth’ is experienced emerged as four super-ordinate themes: A: Initial struggles; B: Experiences of the “healing journey”; C: Growth through connecting and D: Impact of growth on ‘self’. Implications of experiences of the therapeutic relationship as a “healing journey” for therapists were discussed in terms of a potential power imbalance where they might be viewed as ‘experts’. However, a better understanding of how therapists experience ‘vicarious growth’ with their clients enables them to utilise this knowledge to develop their own growth and self-awareness therefore supervision and training to encourage self-awareness was also discussed. These Positive Psychology (growth) findings such as self-belief in skills; use of ‘special set’ of clients; self-image as 3 ‘guide’ and the spread of growth to areas outside of therapy can be utilised to add Positive Psychology (growth) into existing supervision and training (EMDR and trauma) thereby enhancing existing models or creating new ones. Therapists growth and well-being may lead to lower occupational risk than was previously thought working amongst trauma clients and perhaps greater job satisfaction. KEYWORDS: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Posttraumatic Growth (PTG), Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth (VPTG), Vicarious Growth (VG), Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA); EMDR therapists; Positive Psychology.