Therapists’ experiences of pluralistic practice

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study conducted to understand the experience of therapists who described themselves as working pluralistically. Structured, open ended interviews were used with seven participants, and data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Within the domain of personal experiences, participants described a feeling of congruence between their personal philosophy and pluralism, but struggled to define their role as therapist and felt there was a lack of research into the pluralistic approach. Within the professional domain, participants described their experience of working with clients: including collaboration, transparency and reconciling tensions.