REFLECTIONS OF COUNSELLORS ON THEIR OWN EXPERCIENCES IN OUTREACHWORK

Abstract

The article presents a fragment of research on experiences of professional counsellors working as outreachworkers. The idea of this analysis came from the desire to explore the world of people who professionally help marginalised people, in specific non-institutional conditions. The paper introduces outreachworkers’ reflections on the meaning and importance their work had on their own self-perception, perceiving others and their personal and professional identity. The material presented here is the element of the wider research on counselling with the use of outreach method. The first stage findings are shown here. Qualitative strategies were applied in the research with the use of in-depth interview. The concept of outreach and streetworking as a form of reaching people out and non-institutional help as well as the concept of learning through experiencing were the main theoretical perspective of the analysis. The respondents indicated that the experience of streetworking has contributed not only to changing their personality traits, but also has enabled them to develop new or different frameworks of defining what constitutes a counsellor’s work, what is important and needed in it.