Confidential grief: How counselors cope with client suicide

Abstract

We engaged in this study to better understand how counselors cope with and process client suicide. A researcher who also experienced a client suicide conducted interviews with licensed professional counselors (N = 7). Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, we identified eight superordinate themes: (a) professional counseling culture, (b) intense emotional reaction, (c) processing loss, (d) supports, (e) barriers, (f) impairment, (g) disillusionment, and (h) finding meaning. Findings have implications for the counseling profession, counselor educators, agencies and supervisors, counselors, and counselors-in-training.