Practise what you preach: Counsellors’ experience of practising Buddhist Counselling in Thailand

This qualitative study considers Thai counsellors’ experience of practising Buddhist Counselling in Thailand, exploring how Buddhist philosophy is integrated into the counsellors’ personal lives and then brought into their therapeutic practice. The study involved a focus group and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five practising Buddhist counsellors, with their accounts being analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings indicated that the participants considered their personal qualities as being key in generating therapeutic effectiveness within their Buddhist Counselling, and they believed that they fostered these personal qualities by internalising Buddhist ideas into their personal lives and by observing Buddhist practices. Implications for counselling practice, training, and research are discussed.