“An emotional sensitivity now that I didn’t have before”. The therapist’s experience of new motherhood: An IPA study

Stirton, Lucinda

Abstract

Aims: Women who are therapists potentially face a landscape of changes during their transition to motherhood. This study aims to explore therapists’ lived experience of returning to therapeutic practice after having their first baby, particularly in terms of whether therapists notice any changes to their experience of client work as new mothers.
Method: This qualitative phenomenological research was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with six participants (all practicing therapists with a child under two), whose accounts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Three group experiential themes were identified. The first highlighted how therapists seemed to be working with a view of their baby in therapy. The second dealt with how the participants navigated their emotional sensitivity in sessions and the associated issues and client groups they could no longer work with, as well as their attempts to find their own emotional safety. The third explored how therapists integrated their mother and therapist selves by redefining their boundaries, switching between the roles, their felt sense of growth, and continued dedication to being therapists.
Discussion: This study’s findings suggest that the therapists’ transition to motherhood involves many complex dynamics with important implications for both therapists themselves and the therapeutic relationship. The findings highlight new-mother therapists need for support and supervision upon their return to work. The study recommends that further research be undertaken to explore how motherhood impacts the therapist.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: May 7, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11978359
• Award Date: Oct 4, 2024