181 The Professional Counselor™ Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 181–197 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2024 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi: 10.15241/db.14.2.181 A Phenomenological Exploration of Counselors’ Experiences in Personal Therapy Professional counselors may choose to increase self-awareness and/or engage in self-care through the use of personal therapy. Some counselors may feel reluctant to pursue personal therapy due to stigma related to their professional identity. To date, researchers have paid limited attention to the unique concerns of counselors in personal therapy. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore counselors’ experiences and decision-making in seeking personal therapy. Participants included 13 licensed professional counselors who had attended personal therapy with a licensed mental health professional within the previous 3 years. We identified six emergent themes through adapted classic phenomenological analysis: presenting concerns, therapist attributes, intrapersonal growth, interpersonal growth, therapeutic factors, and challenges. Findings inform mental health professionals and the field about the personal and professional needs of counselors. Limitations and future research directions are discussed. Keywords: professional counselors, self-awareness, self-care, personal therapy, phenomenological Self-awareness is a fundamental part of the counseling profession. Not only do professional counselors seek to increase the self-awareness and personal growth of their clients, but counselor educators call upon counselor trainees to increase their own self-awareness before entering the field (Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2023, Section 3A11). Additionally, counselor educators often recommend self-growth experiences such as personal counseling to increase counselor trainees’ self-awareness in preparation for professional practice (Remley & Herlihy, 2020). Several scholars define counselor self-awareness as the mindfulness of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the self and in the counseling relationship (Fulton & Cashwell, 2015; Merriman, 2015; Rosin, 2015). Pompeo and Levitt (2014) asserted that self-awareness parallels awareness of personal values and enables counselors to explore best practices in counseling. However, after training, it becomes less clear how, if at all, counselors access their own counseling for self-growth and self-awareness; therefore, we designed the current study to explore how practicing counselors utilize personal therapy. Correlates of Self-Awareness Among Counselors Counselor self-awareness relates to awareness of the counseling relationship, which is helpful to client satisfaction and growth (Pompeo & Levitt, 2014); as such, several researchers have examined the clinical implications of counselor self-awareness, including professional competence, client treatment outcomes, and wellness. For example, Rake and Paley (2009) found that the therapists in their study reported modeling themselves after their own therapist as well as learning about technical aspects of a therapeutic approach. In regard to wellness, Gleason and Hays (2019) found that counselor self-awareness helped identify stressors and needs regarding personal wellness in doctoral-level counselor trainees. Similarly, Merriman (2015) discussed how self-awareness can help prevent burnout or compassion fatigue. Many researchers have investigated the importance of self-awareness as a characteristic of counselors who can competently work with culturally diverse clients (Ivers et al., 2016; Sue et al., 2022). Thus, some evidence of the clinical impact of counselor self-awareness already exists in the literature. Dax Bevly, Elizabeth A. Prosek Dax Bevly, PhD, is core faculty at Antioch University Seattle. Elizabeth A. Prosek, PhD, NCC, LPC, is an associate professor at The Pennsylvania State University. Correspondence may be addressed to Dax Bevly, Antioch University Seattle, School of Applied Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, 2400 3rd Ave #200, Seattle, WA 98121, dbevly@antioch.edu.
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