European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling Vol. 13, No. 4, December 2011, 335–355 Delivering therapy in prison: An IPA study researching the lived experience of psychotherapists and counsellors Betty Bertrand-Godfrey * and Del Loewenthal Research Centre for Therapeutic Education, Roehampton University, London, UK (Received 28 August 2010; final version received 8 September 2010) The objective of this study was to explore the lived experience and its tentative meanings of psychological therapists working in a prison setting. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) epistemology and method were chosen for this study as it focused on understanding the meanings attributed by participants to their particular lived experience. Eight participants (counsellors and psychotherapists 1 ) were interviewed using semi-structured questions based on existing research and on one of the researcher’s (Bertrand-Godfrey) experiences of working therapeutically in a male prison. Interviews lasted approximately an hour and were analysed using IPA [Smith, J., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: Sage.], an idiographic method which allows an in-depth analysis of the transcripts. The close analysis of the eight interviews produced five super-ordinate themes: the challenges to frame and boundaries, facing the specificities of a prison environment, focus on the therapeutic relationship, focus on the self and the choice of working in prison. Participants found prison to be a challenging context for practising as psychological therapists with strong feelings either towards clients within the therapeutic relation- ship, towards the establishment or within themselves. On the other hand, most of the participants realised that despite the context they were able to function in conditions that others have found too adverse to handle. The implication for practice stems from the finding that although challenging for the relationship and for the self, some counsellors and psychotherapists are willing to undertake this task which requires them stepping away from the familiar. Keywords: therapy; prisons; experience; interpretative phenomenological analysis Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es die gelebten Erfahrungen und ihre vorla¨ufige Bedeutung von, in der Strafanstalt operierenden, psycholo- gischen Therapeuten zu erkunden. Vom zentralen Interesse war die Bedeutung der erlebten Erfahrungen zu verstehen, so dass eine Interpretationspha¨nomenologisch analytische Epistemologie und Methode gewa¨hlt wurde. 8 Teilnehmer (Berater und Psychotherapeuten) wurden mit *Corresponding author. Email: bettybertrand@hotmail.com ISSN 1364–2537 print/ISSN 1469–5901 online ß 2011 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13642537.2011.625197 http://www.tandfonline.com