Unveiling sociotherapists' coping resources: exploring professional experiences through thematic analysis

The study addresses how sociotherapists in Poland cope with professional demands while conducting group-based assistance for children and adolescents. Despite sociotherapy’s widespread use nationally, it lacks international recognition under this name and remains under-researched and under-professionalized. The authors frame sociotherapy as complex group work that can activate therapeutic factors yet often requires crisis intervention due to participants’ difficulties and systemic constraints. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources perspective, the purpose is to identify and reconstruct the coping resources (abilities, strategies, opportunities) sociotherapists mobilize when facing work challenges, thereby informing professionalization, training, supervision, and institutional support for this practice.

The paper situates sociotherapy within related international practices (group-based youth interventions, play therapy, school-based play therapy, interpersonal skills training) and highlights system-level challenges in integrating services (e.g., CAMHS). Prior research on therapy professions indicates elevated stress and burnout risks due to intense client contact. Limited Polish studies on sociotherapy report crises, lack of systemic support, and institutional barriers. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model is emphasized: job demands tax workers, while job and personal resources buffer strain and foster motivation, commitment, and resilience. Resources such as social support, supervision quality, feedback, self-efficacy, optimism, and team resources are linked to better outcomes. Sociotherapy remains less professionalized, lacking standardized evidence-based practices and clear competency frameworks, underscoring the need for empirical research from practitioners’ perspectives to inform policy and training.

Design: Qualitative study within a constructivist paradigm using in-depth, semi-structured interviews focused on coping resources in challenging sociotherapeutic situations. A narrative prompt elicited success stories: “Please tell a story about a difficult situation while working in sociotherapy setting that was challenging and tell what helped you cope with the situation.” Participants: N=22 sociotherapists (2 men), ages 28–60; all with higher education (psychology, pedagogy/education, resocialization). Twelve had full sociotherapy training. Work experience 3–31 years; sociotherapy experience 1–20 years; employed across schools, sociotherapy day-rooms/centers, psychological counseling centers, or both; from cities, towns, and rural areas in Poland. Recruitment used snowball sampling. Data collection: 2023 face-to-face interviews by an experienced sociotherapist researcher. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim with nonverbal cues noted. The JD-R model guided interview focus (data analysis remained inductive). Analytic strategy: Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke). Steps: familiarization, line-by-line coding (primary coder SP) with additional coding by ES, searching/reviewing/defining/naming themes, and report writing. Team discussions ensured reflexivity, investigator triangulation, and quality control. Codes were iteratively organized; misfit codes were reallocated from a temporary “other” category. The team monitored code and meaning saturation. Reflexivity and ethics: Team comprised experienced and novice qualitative researchers and practicing professionals (BJ, ES, SP, MW), acknowledging positionalities and potential biases (e.g., interviewer known in the community). Ethical approval: Faculty of Educational Studies at UAM (WSE-KEdsPB-05b/2022/2023). Informed consent obtained from all participants.

Five inductively derived themes describe coping resources mobilized by sociotherapists:

1. “I can rely on other professionals”: Sociotherapists seek informational and emotional support from colleagues, supervisors, mentors, and allied professionals within and beyond their institutions. Trusting professional relationships, teamwork, and coordinated responses across contexts (e.g., school, clubs) help manage difficult behaviors and crises. Mutual aid and peer consultation are central.
2. “I am ready to work on and with myself”: Personal resources include self-acceptance, self-efficacy, active learning from experience, acknowledging limitations, emotional regulation, and reflective practice. Openness about uncertainty, honesty, and insight into one’s emotions help maintain professional neutrality and guide decisions during challenging group dynamics.
3. “I am ready to be a container for their feelings”: Therapists accept, tolerate, and contain participants’ intense emotions (e.g., aggression, hostility, silence), maintaining a safe, accepting therapeutic environment. They model mature emotion regulation and do not personalize attacks from clients or family members, which supports the therapeutic relationship and constructive engagement.
4. “I need to take action!”: Deliberate, concrete actions—consistent rule enforcement, naming behaviors, reflective dialogues, individualized conversations, and when necessary, crisis intervention procedures (e.g., contacting services, coordinating rapid responses)—are crucial. Therapists monitor effects of actions and adapt plans under pressure.
5. “But I’m a sociotherapist, and I have a mission!”: Professional identity, sense of purpose, responsibility, and role-modeling motivate perseverance. Viewing the work as a mission or calling sustains engagement despite low external rewards and ambiguous success markers. Overall, coping involves activating both social (external) and personal (internal) resources. The authors propose a structure in which themes 1 and 2 often serve as starting points (learning and seeking help; self-work), facilitating emotional containment (3) and effective action (4), all underpinned by a professional mission (5).

The findings address the study aim by detailing how sociotherapists mobilize resources to cope with high job demands. Consistent with the JD-R model, social resources (collegial support, supervision, teamwork) and personal resources (self-efficacy, reflexivity, emotion regulation) buffer strain, enable effective action, and sustain motivation. Emotion containment and crisis-response competence are key in the Polish sociotherapy context, where crises often arise in groups. The professional mission strengthens affective commitment and persistence. Implications include building institutional structures for supervision and peer consultation, developing crisis intervention policies and training, and expanding access to professional associations to formalize shared principles and strengthen the community of practice. The proposed resource structure suggests institutions can facilitate flow between social and personal resources, supporting sustained, reflective, and effective practice.

Effective coping for sociotherapists typically starts with seeking support from other professionals and investing in personal growth. Organizations should provide supportive environments, including supervision, specialized training, and clear crisis intervention procedures within group work for children and youth. Broader access to professional associations can expand networks, promote shared good-practice principles, and advance sociotherapy as a recognized professional assistance for children and adolescents.

Key limitations include: (1) Snowball sampling may yield a non-representative subgroup of Polish sociotherapists; (2) Potential self-presentation bias due to the interviewer’s prominence in the community; (3) The narrative prompt focused on difficult situations and was placed at the end of the interview, possibly overrepresenting emotionally charged content and reducing participant energy; (4) Only the narrative segment was coded, so potentially relevant material earlier in interviews was not analyzed; (5) Narrative properties (self as protagonist, positive-ending selection) may affect transferability; (6) Exploratory nature invites alternative interpretations and limits generalizability.