Counselling psychology springs from humanistic and existential/phenomenological values arguing for the need to see human beings in a holistic manner. This value system is a move towards well-being rather than pathology and sickness. The philosophical underpinning of counselling psychology gives a unique identity to the profession, raising different questions for counselling psychologists’ working within NHS settings, which is governed by the medical model. At a time that our profession faces enormous challenges and questions about its future, this study explored the experience of seven chartered counselling psychologists working within different NHS settings using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method.︣The analysis of the study revealed six major themes: (1)The process of creating a therapeutic identity; (2) Valuing the counselling psychology founding principles in practice; (3) Working within the medical model;(4) Experiencing tensions: the power of the context; (5) Dealing with the tensions; (6) Current changes and the future of counselling psychology in the NHS.︣The results showed in greater detail that the participants held a strong therapeutic identity; practiced in accordance with the counselling psychology values; experienced different tensions while working within the NHS, but have found different ways to deal with these tensions, including holding a pluralistic stance, assimilating the medical model with their own value base system and prioritizing the clients’ needs over the NHS guidelines. Lastly, the analysis indicated that the recent changes have contributed additional feelings of anxiety and uncertainty to the participants regarding the future of the profession.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:646086 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Lamproukou, Markella |
| Contributors | Manafi, Elena |
| Publisher | Regent's University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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