Encountering sexuality difference: the experiences of person-centered counselors and psychotherapists who self-describe as heterosexual and have worked with lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer clients

ABSTRACT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people (LGBQ; a sexual minority social group) access counseling and psychotherapy more frequently than heterosexual people, often working with heterosexual therapists (a sexual majority social group). Heterosexual therapists working with LGBQ clients is under-researched which means limited dialogue exists describing a significant yet sensitive area of sexuality difference where therapist and client hold diverging social experiences. To facilitate awareness development in person-centered therapy and beyond, the paper seeks to challenge such limited dialogue, stimulating discussion through considering how four heterosexual person-centered therapists experience working with LGBQ clients. This qualitative research project was designed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as its methodology to explore the experiences of four heterosexual person-centered therapists who work with LGBQ clients. Findings centered upon four themes: shaping and forming, ways of seeing, witnessing clients and relationships with person-centered theory. The discussion considered the data in dialogue with person-centered theory, explored phenomenological therapy practice, intersectionality, power, and witnessing client experiences of social discrimination, and evaluated the non-pathologizing therapeutic potential that person-centered phenomenological practice holds for working with LGBQ clients. For theory development, the paper calls for further person-centered discourse exploring LGBQ experiencing.

KEYWORDS:

• Person-centered therapy
• sexuality difference
• power
• LGBQ clients
• encounter
• phenomenological therapy practice

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to the four participants who most generously shared their experiences. I am grateful to David Blowers and Kate Hoyland for verifying the validity of the data analysis and to Wayne Full and his research colleagues during the review process. I would also like to thank Sheila Haugh, Beatrice Millar and Oli Osmond for their enthusiasm and unwavering support throughout the research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rachael Peacock

Rachael Peacock is a UKCP registered psychotherapist holding an MSc in Contemporary Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Applications from the Metanoia Institute. She is a person-centered psychotherapist in private practice in East London and is a researcher and trainer on gender, sexuality and relationship diversity within counseling and psychotherapy.