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Idowu, Barbara (2017) Counselling psychologists’ experience of their professional identity whilst working in an IAPT service : an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
Whilst counselling psychology has established itself as recognised profession in both the NHS and the independent sector, studies and anecdotal evidence have shown that counselling psychology positions itself in opposition to the prevalent medical discourse and is not as well understood an known as its cousin clinical psychology. At the same time, the Increased Access to Psychological Therapies services translate principles of evidence-based practice and clinical governance into a model of psychological therapies delivery, which creates areas of tension between counselling psychology identity and IAPT’s identity. Research conducted in the US and UK as well as anecdotal evidence suggests that this conflict can lead to unclear professional identities for counselling psychologists practising in this setting, contributing to burn-out, disillusionment and job dissatisfaction.
Semi-structures interviews were conducted with six counselling psychologists with experience of working in IAPT services, which were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Their experience of professional identity whilst working in IAPT highlighted an ambivalent relationship with their professional identity, which was attributed to the tension between organisational and professional identities. The consequences were signs of burn-out, disillusionment, disconnection from the profession as well as a negative selfimage of clinical skills. The mediating factor of stages of professional development is discussed.
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