The Intentionality of Relationship and Connections in Counselor Education

• In Event: How Can We Extend Self-Study Scholarship (and Why Might We Want To)?

Abstract

Objectives
Collectively, we are three counselor educators with extensive experience in counseling, supervision, and educating counselors-in-training. While we are relatively novice to self-study methodology, we have extensive research experience in both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our purpose in pursuing this line of inquiry is rooted in the ability to use self-study methodology to address supervisory needs for reflective counselor educators. Self-study lends itself to this task as it serves simultaneously to better understand our practice in developing counselors and counselor educators while exploring the tension between teaching for social justice (Picower, 2012) and intentionality in facilitating student development. In doing this, we hope to open further dialogue to engage more counselor educators to explore the use of self-study (Session Author, in press).

Perspectives
Our attraction to this work stems from years of conversations in person at professional conferences, and phone calls and emails in between that focused on the how to self-reflect and maintain accountability in a highly politicized field in the world of academia coupled with the stigma of mental health and counseling in society. Having a little introduction opened the gateway to use and implement self-study to answer our research question, “What is our intentionality of relationships and connections with counselor education students to facilitate equity, social justice, and multicultural praxis?”

Modes of Inquiry
The authors reference LaBoskey’s (2004) four methodological considerations for self-study in conjunction with narrative inquiry in counselor education (Reisman & Speedy, 2007) Two aspects of self-study appear in this work: communities of practice, and critical friendship. Using co-mentoring as a guide, the researchers formed a self-study community of practice. To begin our self-study, we examined self in relation to context and policies, and environments in which we implement our practice. Self-study acknowledges the self as the primary data source. With that, the researchers call upon narrative in the form of recorded conferences and personal logs as a technique for creating objects to examine. In the professional logs, the researchers document critical incidents that highlight the implementation and non-implementation of intentionality.

Substantiated Conclusions
This self-study provided the opportunity for three counselor education researchers to explore their intentionality of teaching counselors who promote equity, social justice, and multicultural praxis. The researchers used personal logs and recorded conversations to document narrative accounts of critical incidents. The presentation of this ongoing self-study will acknowledge the paucity of self-study in counselor education. Initial insights from this study indicate that faculty could benefit from ongoing supervision similar to counseling practitioners. It also emphasizes the need to be transparent and intentional with students about their internal professional struggles to model for students’ ways to effectively navigate an ongoing and ever-changing field based on societal trends.

Scholarly Significance
The significance of this self-study lies in its creation of space for exploration and growth. While all of the researchers work from a social justice stance, this study highlights some blind spots that might appear in “thinking” versus “acting” intentionally. In this way, the self-study might be the first in our entire counseling field.

Authors

• Kara Ieva, Rowan University

• Linwood Vereen, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

• Michael D. Hannon, Montclair State University