An exploration of the use of the telephone in telephone counselling with offenders within the probation service

This study explores the use of telephone counselling with offenders within the probation service, emerging from the shift to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving therapy from the surveilled and punitive environment of the probation office into the private space of the telephone raised questions about how therapeutic relationships are shaped by the medium. This research suggests that the telephone is not a neutral mode of delivery but an active component of the therapeutic frame. Drawing on concepts such as containment (Bion, 1962), the holding environment (Winnicott, 1965/2018) and the role of the gaze in relation to shame (Lemma, 2010), the study highlights how the telephone reshapes offenders’ experience of emotional exposure, proximity and relational safety. It also introduces the concept of the ‘Metal Mother’ to understand the telephone as a containing, mediating object within the therapeutic relationship. A qualitative methodology was adopted, using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2019) to explore therapists’ experiences of telephone counselling within probation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten therapists who had worked within a probation-based counselling service during the pandemic. The analysis generated five overarching themes: Being Seen and Not Seen, Freedom and Restriction, Environment, Power and Control, and The Telephone as a Container. Findings showed that the telephone altered the experience of shame and visibility, often enabling greater openness while introducing challenges such as distraction, boundary testing and shifts in relational authority. The discussion highlights that telephone counselling constitutes a reconfiguration of the therapeutic frame rather than a diminished form of practice. The telephone functions as an active psychological medium that both facilitates and complicates therapeutic work, reshaping containment, power dynamics and emotional expression. These findings contribute to a psychodynamic understanding of remote work with offenders, emphasising the importance of recognising the medium as integral to the therapeutic process.