Female domestic violence counsellors/psychotherapists: attitudes towards addiction. An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Fricker, Nina, Banbury, Samantha and Visick, Amanda (2018) Female domestic violence counsellors/psychotherapists: attitudes towards addiction. An interpretative phenomenological analysis. MOJ Addiction Medicine & Therapy, 5 (3). pp. 137-141. ISSN 2573-2935

Abstract

Many counsellors/psychotherapists working with victims of domestic violence (DV) encounter substance use disorders (SUDs), whether directly or indirectly, and yet an understanding of how to address these co-occurring issues in practice appears lacking. A qualitative design using semi-structured interviews and IPA captured the individual experiences and perceptions of 6 female BACP registered counsellors/psychotherapists who counsel victims of DV based in DV ‘specific’ organisations. Four super-ordinate themes emerged and included a ‘feminist perspective’, ‘addiction: symptom of trauma’, ‘skills development in substance misuse’ and ‘feelings of exclusion in the workplace’. This study offers an initial understanding of how DV counsellors view SUDs and the impact this had in their practice. It further provided insight into how supported and involved they felt in their workplace when counselling this group. These findings are discussed in terms of strategy development and training aimed at improving the experience of counsellors/psychotherapists working in DV counselling organisations when they encounter SUDs in order to support counsellors and service-users well-being.

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