Date of Award
5-13-2015
Document Type
Undergraduate Capstone Project
Degree Name
Psy.D.
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Nicole Taylor
Second Advisor
Peter Buirski
Third Advisor
William Staudenmaier
Keywords
Therapeutic community, Severe and persistent mental illness, Change, Trauma
Abstract
In order to gain better understanding of how therapeutic communities instigate change, this interpretative phenomenological study explores the recognized agents of change as reported by current and recent community members of a particular therapeutic community. Four superordinate themes were discovered: the structure of the program, engagement in the community, intentionality/mindfulness, and applied knowledge. While the results from this study are similar in several ways to the current literature, they also expand the literature about therapeutic communities in one important way. The change agents reported as leading to healing strongly resemble current best practice for the treatment of trauma. Limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Extent
39 pages
Recommended Citation
Keys, Julie Caroline, "Understanding Change in a Therapeutic Community for People with Severe Mental Illness: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study" (2015). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 13.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/13