“It made me a more resilient therapist”: A qualitative study on practitioners’ experience of providing mental health services during the pandemic

Brandon, Louis; Fragkiadaki, Eva

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated sudden and radical changes in mental health care delivery where practitioners unavoidably engaged in remote working. As remote care is likely to become increasingly common, perhaps routine, in this study, we aimed to explore practitioners' experiences of delivering online therapy during a unique moment in history. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with 5 participants. 3 main themes were developed using Thematic Analysis:1) Moving services online: practical challenges and opportunities; 2) Intimacy and distance in online connections; and 3) We’re all in this together: a collective experience. This study highlighted participants' flexibility, digital and relational connectedness, and ability to reframe negative experiences as potential for growth. Findings demonstrate that the existence of both challenges and opportunities for online therapy constitutes just the start of an exciting journey for practitioners when delivering mental health services in the future.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 3, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 16, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 16, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 17, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 21, 2023
• Journal: Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 2044-0820
• Publisher: The British Psychological Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Issue: 35
• Pages: 11-23
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsqmip.2023.1.35.11
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10946429