“A way of waking up to whatever it is”: the experience of counselling psychologists who use mindfulness in their personal lives and professional practice

This study explores the experience of counselling psychologists who use mindfulness in their personal lives and professional practice. It aims to shed light on the lived experience of mindfulness for these individuals. The research took the form of a qualitative, idiographic inquiry and due to the relative lack of existing literature on the therapists’ experience of using mindfulness, it was deemed important to remain rooted to the participants’ experience. Seven females and one male participant took part in in-depth, semi-structured interviews exploring their experience of using mindfulness. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three master themes emerged from the analysis, these are, mindfulness and spirituality, relational component of mindfulness and clinical applications of mindfulness. These master themes have a number of subthemes within them. The results of the analysis represent my interpretation of the participants’ interpretation of their lived experience. These findings are discussed with a focus on the spiritual component, empathic connections and advice for novice mindfulness therapists. The clinical implications specifically relevant to the practice of counselling psychology are also discussed