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40 = USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (real) self - deep in their hearts they are different, as J. McIntosh and McKeganey (2000) put it. Groesbeck (1975) and Barr (2006) highlighted the importance of helpers’ prior “wounds”, which motivate their choices of profession and professional careers. In our study, participants’ past “wounds” (their wounded identities) also have an effect of the present: although the professional helpers have recovered from their wounds, but they do not want to get rid of their woundedness or scars (metaphorically speaking). On the other hand, they want to make them visible and use them during their work as helpers. According to Conti-O’Hare (2002), people with living wounds become healers (“wounded healers”) by “walking wounded” on a certain path. Therefore, processing and transforming woundedness and pain is necessary for the helper to achieve the transcendence that enables him or her to heal others. One popular metaphor in connection with addiction treatment, especially in 12-step communities — is that recovering from an addiction is a journey (Marlatt & Fromme, 1987; Weegmann & Piwowoz-Hjort, 2009). This also appears in our study as well: the helper is a companion for the client's journey, the mentor of a traveler, who touches the traveler’s shoulder but does not designate the destination. The “recovery is a journey” and the “wounded helper” metaphors suppose a more complete destination, where the helper is capable of healing others. One limitation of the study is the small sample size and that the sample was a convenience sample. Since our findings are consistent with the literature, there may only be limited sampling bias in our study. Another limitation is that because IPA is used mainly with specific subjects using specific questions, results may not be valid for other groups or other questions, or to assess cause-effect relationships. In addition, this study is not capable of deducting conclusions about the effectiveness or efficiency about the work of recovering helpers — but this was not the goal of the study to begin with. 2.5. CONCLUSION Recovering helpers play an increasing role in addiction treatment. They work can be best described as mentoring. Therefore, understanding the dynamics and background of their helping work may contribute to their training, to finding the most appropriate place for them in addiction treatment, and in drug and alcohol policy. This study contributes to their better understanding.
