Working in the present moment: The impact of mindfulness on trainee psychotherapists’ experience of relational depth

Abstract

AbstractAimTo explore the lived experience and impact of a brief mindfulness meditation training intervention on trainee psychological therapists, in particular their experiences of relational depth, the cultivation of therapeutic qualities and their use of the self in the therapeutic relationship.MethodInterpretative phenomenological analysis was used to investigate participants’ lived experience of mindfulness. Fifteen participants completed an eight‐week MBSR/MBCT mindfulness training, contextualised for therapists, and eight were interviewed four months later.FindingsParticipants experienced a range of positive outcomes and meaningful effects at both a personal and professional level, with mindfulness appearing to facilitate ‘being versus doing’ qualities and the potential for enhanced relational depth.DiscussionThe findings indicate the potential of mindfulness as a complementary clinical training and were suggestive of a process model, where ‘therapist intrapersonal attunement’ facilitates ‘therapist‐client interpersonal attunement’ that in turn promotes ‘client self‐attunement’, in a ‘co‐created co‐meditation space’.