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Counselling in organisations: What is the experience of the lone counsellor?
Author(s) -
Winning Fiona Janet
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1080/14733145.2010.485694
Subject(s) - belongingness , psychology , qualitative research , social psychology , grounded theory , relevance (law) , sociology , political science , social science , law
Aims: To explore and understand lone counsellors' experiences of working in organisations, and to indicate means of enhancing this. Method: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with nine participants and subjected to a qualitative, grounded theory analysis (Glaser, 1992; Glaser, 1998). Findings: Lone counsellors felt lonely, isolated and stressed in the workplace. The ‘lone battling’ behaviour adopted in an attempt to seek acceptance within the organisation and meaningful relationships with likeminded others in the counselling community was only partially successful. The lone counselling experience is understood to be a product of the tension inherent in organisational dynamics. Discussion: The findings help to confirm the belongingness hypothesis proposed by Baumeister and Leary (1995) that states that the need to belong is a fundamental motivation. Implications: The relevance of these findings to the training and employment of counsellors and other lone workers is discussed as well as areas for further research.