The lived experiences of licensed professional counselors providing emergency room interventions and assessments to suicidal patients: A phenomenological revie

This qualitative research study explores the lived experiences of twelve Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC's) that have experience (greater than one year) in facilitating and evaluating suicidal patients in the emergency room (ER) setting. The ER presents a challenging environment for LPC's to make a connection with suicidal patients (SP). The LPC`s experiences is at the core of psychiatric care and critical to positive client outcomes. Ultimately, the purpose is to collapse individual experiences into a common description of a universal phenomenon. This study utilized a phenomenological qualitative research design. This study provides insight into the experiences of counselors in ER settings. Information was obtained from narratives provided by the counselor. The use of phenomenological questions in this study helped gain insights into the role of the counselor in an emergency situation and suicide prevention/interventions in an ER setting through narratives of the counselors.