The lived experience of mental health practioners who practice LGBT affirmative therapy

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how mental health professionals experience practising affirmative therapy, using a qualitative research design. A total number of seven mental health practitioners were recruited who took part in semi-structured interviews comprised of ended questions. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in order to focus on the participant's lived experience (Shinebourne, 2011). A total number of four superordinate themes emerged from the data analysis, each including several subordinate themes. The explored themes included their understanding of affirmative therapy, the use of therapeutic techniques, being an LGBT practitioner as well as being a practitioner in the local context. The findings indicate that mental health professionals felt insufficiently prepared by their training to work with LGBT clients. Furthermore, the importance of acceptance and awareness in affirmative therapeutic work was highlighted and the experience of being an LGBT practitioner was explored. Future research could explore the role of affirmative therapy training and how receiving training could impact the experience of therapy and to what extent this could enhance therapists' levels of confidence regarding their professional competencies.