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Three's a crowd: The impact of the organisation on the fee practices of volunteer therapists
Author(s) -
Cooper Hannah Marie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
counselling and psychotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1746-1405
pISSN - 1473-3145
DOI - 10.1002/capr.12121
Subject(s) - cognitive dissonance , dyad , thematic analysis , payment , psychology , set (abstract data type) , therapeutic relationship , modalities , social psychology , therapeutic touch , public relations , psychotherapist , qualitative research , business , medicine , finance , sociology , political science , alternative medicine , social science , pathology , computer science , programming language
Aims To explore how therapists experience significant events surrounding the fee within a voluntary organisation setting when tasked with sustaining fee payments without financial gain to themselves. Method A qualitative study involving semi‐structured interviews with twelve therapists of varying modalities, practising voluntarily within a counselling organisation. Participants shared a significant event surrounding the fee, their response, the sense they made of it and its lasting impact. Transcriptions were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Findings captured a rich set of experiences that roused powerful tensions involved in a therapeutic consideration of money, grouped into four main areas of impact: Impact from Within, Impact from Outside, Impact on Therapist and Legacy. Belief in its strengthening presence within the therapeutic dyad was in stark conflict with the threat it posed to rupture the relationship and revealed powerful dissonance, impacted further by the complex tripartite dynamic fostered by the organisation. Conclusions Money can be worked with creatively to facilitate movement within therapy. However, this is most often achieved only after therapist and client have tolerated considerable discomfort when money is concretely handled outside the therapeutic space. Less risk of rupture occurs when the fee is contained within the therapeutic relationship, and when responsibility is assumed by the therapist from the outset.