Last year I started working with young refugees and asylum seekers in an organisational setting. One of the challenges I often face is around therapeutic boundaries. I would like to find out how other counsellors and psychotherapists might adapt their therapeutic boundaries when working with refugees and people seeking asylum. There are a few papers found in this topic during the preliminary literature review which are systematic review and case study including the work outside the United Kingdom. I would like to do a qualitative study with counsellors/ psychotherapists in the United Kingdom. This is also a part of my MA in Therapeutic Counselling and Psychotherapy.
The latest global statistic shows ‘117.3 million people had been forced to flee their homes had been forced to flee their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order’ of which were nearly 42.5 million refugees, 8.42 million asylum seekers and 67.8 million are internally displaced people within the border of their own countries (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), 2025). Given that the refugees and asylum seekers have had their personal boundaries and human rights violated, the therapeutic boundaries are important aspect to consider when working this client group (Cowles & Griggs, 2019). Bond (2015:90) highlighted the importance of having a clear boundary between the therapist and clients and respecting the client’s autonomy. He gave an example of poor practice which crossing the boundary with the good intention can take away the client’s autonomy because there will be a risk of reducing their own capability and increasing the dependency on the counsellor. However, given the circumstances of the refugees and people seeking asylum’s vulnerabilities and needs, is it possible to have such clear boundaries?
Some studies (Davoren, et.al.,2024; Duden, et al., 2020) have found that we need to consider having flexible therapeutic boundaries when working with the refugees and asylum seekers who have experienced trauma in pre-migration, migratory journey and post migration phases (White, 2022).
My research methodology is Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) (Braun and Clarke, 2006). This approach acknowledges the subjectivity and reflexivity of the researcher in co-constructing the research with the participants. RTA is also chosen because it gives the flexibility in using the ontology and epistemology that are suitable for the stated research question. The researcher’s own experience working with this client group and researcher’s subjectivity will play a significant part in the process and the analysis of the data.
Data collection method: A short questionnaire will be used to collect data around participants’ characteristics which may be relevant to the research question. Semi- structured interviews will be used as part of the RTA methodology. The interview schedules with prompts will be sent to the participants a week before the interview, so they can be more familiar with the research question. The interview will be recorded and take no more than 90 minutes to allow the introduction time at the beginning and debrief time at the end of the interview.
To view the participant information sheet, please see here.
For more information on how to take part, please see here.
