TPC Journal V7, Issue 4 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 4 311 between taking off my counselor hat and keeping it on, even in some interpersonal . . . relationships.” Impact of mindfulness. Responses from the participants also revealed that the integration process helped energize them. For example, one female participant at an inpatient psychiatric hospital stated, “Before, when I had jobs, I would separate myself. Because my career is so closely aligned with my personality, I feel like it’s the same. The way I am at my job energizes me; it makes me who I am.” Additionally, some participants also indicated feeling comforted and integrated into the professional counseling community through accepting who they are and interacting with both peers and supervisors. For example, one female participant at youth and family services noted “knowing other resources to give clients and walking through the process of this is all that we can do with them . . . and then knowing that we did all that [we] could and that was okay.” Similarly, there was one participant who noted that becoming integrated within the professional community helped with regard to becoming more internally validated. A female participant working in an inpatient psychiatric hospital noted that “things were finally starting to click into place where I was a part of the team . . . that was when my professional identity started to grow—when I see me as a professional instead of an intern.” External to Internal Validation      Transformational model of PID task. Naturally, novice counselors experience doubt about their skills and capabilities in serving clients in a therapeutic capacity and often look to other more experienced professionals or resources for validation. Participant responses indicated that they were self-critical and looked toward others for validation of their experience. For example, one male participant from low- income community services indicated that when using professional manuals as an ultimate reference at the beginning of their training, “I didn’t trust myself to go off the manual . . . I was so concerned [about], okay did I cover this step, did I cover this step, did I cover this step.” As the counselors-in-training developed their professional identity, there was a movement from external validation to being able to internally validate themselves. For example, the participant from low-income community services stated, “I am just now starting to trust myself to use the manuals as a base and then apply my own clinical judgment.” Impact of mindfulness. One’s level of self-acceptance and tendency to not judge oneself is the key to the ability to validate oneself internally. Through nonjudgmentally accepting and evaluating oneself, participants were able to trust and internalize their own strengths and abilities. One male participant from a university counseling center stated, “I learned to accept the current level that I’m at, not being so critical on myself about what I should or shouldn’t be doing, or should and shouldn’t know . . . and that’s been helpful.” Within this study, mindfulness appears to contribute to one’s willingness to expand the personal comfort zone and explore new and creative approaches, both of which facilitate development toward becoming an effective counselor. A male participant from the university counseling center stated, “It [mindfulness] helped me . . . step out of my comfort zone and try different things with clients, it’s been well received [and] really helpful in terms of feeling more competent [and] confident.” Mindfulness assisted participants with accepting and trusting themselves, which develops internal confidence and validation. A male participant from low-income community services stated, “The basic concept of stopping yourself, examining in the moment, and saying okay . . . trusting myself