How are the personal and professional values of counsellors shaped by the transition from student to qualified practitioner?

I am a student at University Centre Weston (UCW, completing a BSc (Hons) degree in Counselling. This study is a small-scale research project that I have developed together with staff at UCW for my dissertation.

This study will adopt a perspective of rich, holistic sense-making and empathic understanding to inquire what impact transition into the ‘real world’ counselling environment has on counsellor’s values, ideals and personal growth. In this context, values are defined as the desired inner qualities that guide actions and behaviours, enabling people to live and work with meaning and person. Counselling training is a personally transformative experience for many students and personal therapy is essential to the development of the student as therapist. Engaging in reflective and reflexive self-awareness practices encourages students to explore their own values and critically engage with them. Within an academic community, students can nurture these values in an atmosphere of safety and respect.

However, newly qualified counsellors face reconciling their values with the challenges of finding employment, working within organisations, navigating the diversity of clients and continuing skills training. Whilst there are several studies that investigate the experience of transition for students, they focus on practical issues around employability, skill gaps and challenges of working within regulatory framework. In contrast, this study will inquire, from the perspective of rich, holistic sense-making and empathic understanding, what influence transition has on counsellor's values, ideals and personal growth, and how they stay congruent with their aspirations and intentions.

This research will be of interest to student counsellors currently on their study path, and to teachers and student guides and supporters within the counselling education environment, who wish to understand and perhaps prepare themselves emotionally, mentally, even spiritually for this significant next step in their journey into the professional counselling world. Using narrative inquiry, stories of personal multifaceted transformation will be presented so that the reader can holistically experience the authentic voice of the participants.

Created by American sociologist Laurel Richardson, poetic re-presentation is a research technique in which a researcher creates found poetry from participant word transcripts. Incorporating found poetry re-presentation, this study aims to provide interested parties with research that is relevant, interesting and informative, but also appealing, easily interpreted and moving on an holistic level, that can be appreciated by as many readers as possible, whatever their academic or neuro-ability.

NB you do not need poetry or creative writing skills to take part in this study and you will not be expected to take part in the found poetry or any other writing process.

To view the participant information sheet, please see here.
To take part or for more information, please see here.