Online counsellors' experiences of the therapeutic relationship with young people: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

There is good evidence that the use of online counselling is increasing and related to this has been an expansion of services and individuals offering online counselling services. However, there is a dearth of research which has investigated processes occurring during online therapy and very little research investigating processes between young people (defined in this project as those aged between 11 and 25) and their online therapists. This project utilised the qualitative approach of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Online interviews were conducted to investigate eight online counsellors' experiences of online therapeutic relationships with young people. Online counsellors discussed how the role of anonymity and adapting methods to the online environment had an impact on the therapeutic relationship. They also discussed how practical implications, challenges and limitations and similarities with conducting therapy face-to-face related to their understanding and experience of the therapeutic relationship with young people. In addition, the novel method of data collection, the researcher's experience of this and the implications of the findings for the practice of online therapy and further research were discussed