| My engagement in counsellor education and my interest in understanding the changes that counsellors in training undergo during their training stimulated this hermeneutic investigation. I interviewed eight students from two western Canadian counsellor education programs, seeking to answer the following questions: (1) What are the key points in the development of counsellors in training, and how do they understand them? (2) What is their understanding of how they have developed competence? (3) How do counsellors in training make sense of the changes they experience during counsellor education? (4) How have their professional identities changed and how do they explain this?;I used the transcripts of these interviews to develop an understanding of what counsellors in training experienced during their training, and how they interpreted it. Their accounts were integrated into a single emerging story that captures their experience and the meaning they attached to their counsellor education experiences. Organized temporally, this story of counsellor development was divided into four phases: Foreshadowings, Opening Chapters, Denouement, and Conclusions. In each of these phases, participants identified themes that represented aspects of their experience, influences; and their responses.;Participants constructed meaning around critical incidents during their training, such as particular assignments or courses, client outcomes, supervisory interactions, or ethical dilemmas, construing these experiences and their responses to them as "key points," more so than specific junctures in their programs. Participants saw themselves as the primary authors of their own development, exercising personal agency to organize and respond to the multiple influences acting upon them, engaging in reflective practice. They described a cyclical process of monitoring their own behavior, obtaining feedback, reflecting on their practice, implementing changes, evaluating them, and beginning the cycle anew. Often, change was stimulated by an experience of "critical mass" of demands, leading to discontinuous change. Participants interpreted the changes they experienced as personal transformation, which is a central outcome of counsellor education. Their professional identities evolved from seeing themselves as students and novices to seeing themselves as capable professionals. Finally, I discuss the implications for counsellor education practice and the personal impact of conducting this study. |
