Adopted Therapists’ Experience of Rupture and Repair with Children: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis
The aim of this study is to address the current gap in research concerning adopted therapists’ experiences of rupture and repair in therapeutic work with children.
In addition to contributing to the academic literature, the project aspires to inform future training and professional development within counselling and psychotherapy.
Insights gained may highlight the need for tailored support structures for adopted therapists, including supervision practices and continuing professional development that acknowledge and integrate their lived experiences of rupture and repair. To reflect the emotional complexity, subjective lived experiences, and relational dynamics between participants and the children they work with, this study will adopt a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews for data collection.
This approach reflects the interpretive, co-constructed epistemological stance of the therapeutic relationship, and acknowledges the meaning-making that emerges through the interview encounter.
The central research question is: How do adopted therapists experience and make sense of rupture and repair in their work with children?
Data will be analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Interviews will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams, which is securely linked to the University of Roehampton’s Outlook account.
With the participant’s consent, the session will be recorded and transcribed to support accurate data collection.
Recordings will be securely uploaded to the University of Roehampton’s OneDrive, in accordance with GDPR requirements.
All materials, including transcripts, will be anonymised and pseudonymised, with identifying information stored separately to ensure participant confidentiality.
All data will be stored as outlined in the consent form and in line with Roehampton’s Data Privacy Policy.
This study warmly invites expressions of interest from qualified child counsellors, psychotherapists, play therapists, or clinical psychologists who have lived experience of adoption, and those who have worked with children between the ages of 4 and 10.
To be eligible, participants should be registered with at least one of the following professional bodies: HCPC, UKCP, BACP, NCPS, BAPT, or BPS. They should also have been adopted either at birth or during infancy.
For the participant information sheet, please see here and for further information on how to participate, please see here.