PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PRACTICES AND SOCIAL WORK PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY: SYNERGY OR BOUNDARY DISRUPTION? PRACTICE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC.

This constructivist study aimed to explore how mental health social workers construct and reinterpret their professional identity by integrating psychotherapeutic practices into their practice in the Czech Republic. Respondents agree that social work with people with mental disorders is an area where social work and psychotherapy intersect, and the therapeutic action of the social worker is perceived as a given. Completing therapeutic training affects the construction of professional identity in different ways. Social workers with training think more broadly about their professional identity and either lean towards the identity of a therapist or feel themselves to be both social workers and therapists. The professional identity of social workers is shaped by many factors, including completing psychotherapeutic training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]