LGBTQI guidance counsellors' experiences of negotiating their personal and professional identities in second-level schools in Ireland

The main aim for the current study is to investigate ‘how LGBTQI Guidance Counsellors navigate their personal and professional identities in Irish second-level schools’. Schools have had a long and uncomfortable relationship with LGBTQI identifications (Youdell 2005). LGBTQI professionals report struggling with boundaries and managing their visibility within their profession (Einarsdottir, Hoel & Lewis 2016; Rumens & Broomfield 2012). The concept of the ‘pastoral care’ role of a regular teacher is a fundamental part of their professionalism (Teaching Council 2011; Best et al., 1980). There is an extra pressure on Guidance Counsellors to provide not only vocational and educational, but also emotional and personal support (Kidd 2006; Nathan & Hill 2006). This research draws on qualitative research with three self-identified LGBTQI Irish Guidance Counsellors along side a scoping review of empirical international literature of LGBTQI teachers and Guidance Counsellors/Psychotherapists experiences. Findings suggested three main themes that were evident across the scoping review and interviews with three Irish Guidance Counsellors; heteronormativity and its Restrictions for LGBTQI Teachers and Guidance Counsellors, coming out and its implications, and being a role model. This study argues that the complexities that Irish LGBTQI Guidance Counsellors face in managing their personal and professional identities have an effect on the students that they see on a one-to-one basis and also on their view of professionalism.