Helping Beginning Counselors Develop a

Developing a personal theory of counseling is essential for beginning counselors. Current approaches deemphasize life experiences before graduate training and fail to incorporate counselor developmental stages. This article presents a framework for strengthening development of a personal theory of counseling by integrating life experiences and counselor developmental stages with theory building approaches. Article: Learning to be a helping professional has been described as a complex and overwhelming process (Byrne, 1995; Kottler & Hazler, 1997; Martin & Moore, 1995; Morrissey, 1996; Spruill, 1994; Young, 1998). An essential part of this process is to help students develop a coherent theoretical framework on which they can base their counseling practice. The proposed standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP, 1999) recognize the importance of this aspect of counselor education, stating that "Students will be exposed to models of counseling . . . and students will begin to develop a personal model of counseling" (Draft III, Standard K. 5.c, p. 12). However, preparing professional counselors to practice from a strong theoretical base requires that counselor educators do more than simply teach standard theories and models of counseling; students should also be helped to use these theories to examine and develop their own personal model of counseling as they work "toward integration in theory and eclecticism in practice" (Kelly, 1997, p. 337). Because beginning counselors typically lack the ability to conceptualize clients from a coherent, unified theoretical perspective (Watts, as cited in Morrissey, 1996), the integration of personal life experiences and counselor developmental stages may be a particularly significant challenge for counselor educators. In this article, we suggest several approaches for integrating counselor development and theory building into counselor education curricula. CONSIDERATIONS IN DEVELOPING A PERSONAL THEORY OF COUNSELING Student development during graduate counselor training has been described as a continuum through which students move from a focus on more external, client-specific information to a point where they can focus on and integrate many complexities related to effective counseling, including variables of personality, personal and professional issues, and counseling style (Clark, as cited in Benshoff, 1989). Thus, to be effective, counselor educators and supervisors must provide different, developmentally appropriate experiences for students and supervisees. Moreover, because developmental needs of trainees vary, timing becomes a key issue, raising questions such as, When should trainees be introduced to concepts of theory building? and What specific kinds of information and challenges should be offered at each developmental stage? If exercises or information are introduced too early, trainees may lack sufficient knowledge, self-understanding, and experience to make appropriate choices, and may succumb to pressure to "declare a theoretical orientation" without adequate preparation (Halgin, 1985). Another key issue is what to introduce and at what level. For example, information presented in earlier stages must be clear and relatively concrete. In addition, students in early stages typically require higher levels of support and encouragement than do advanced students who can absorb more abstract concepts that require them to think and process information in more integrative ways. Thus, linking theory building to the counselor development stage is an important aspect of optimizing student learning and professional development. Integrating a framework for theory building into graduate training programs offers a number of potential benefits. From the beginning, students would begin to develop their own personal theory of counseling along with essential skills to understand and critically evaluate different counseling approaches. Early introduction could help ease the transition from student to professional by providing counselor trainees with a structure to reconsider and revise personal theory throughout their careers. A theory-building framework could also be a useful tool for supervisors to help supervisees integrate knowledge and training with personal values and beliefs in the context of counseling with actual clients. Finally, explicitly addressing theory building in counselor training may help students better understand that professional development involves "an increasingly higher order integration of the professional self and the personal self" (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992, p. 507) by emphasizing the importance of consistency among these two life areas (Guy, 1987). Skovholt and Ronnestad (1992) proposed a stage model of counselor development that defines three broad stages, each with its own characteristic processes and tasks. In the Pretraining Stage, students draw from their natural helping abilities and are concerned primarily with using knowledge from their life experience to be a sympathetic friend. The Training Stage represents a transition to counseling professional and involves organizing and supplementing natural helping behaviors with methods of functioning that are externally imposed by the training program. In the Post-Training Stage, students become practicing counselors and face issues of integrating externally imposed expectations with their internal selves. Integral to each of these stages is personal reflection and processing of the learning experiences that occur throughout training and professional practice. A FRAMEWORK FOR THEORY BUILDING Theory building in counseling has been addressed in terms of theory-building questions (Piercy & Sprenkle, 1988), learning activities (Piercy & Sprenkle, 1986), principles for organizing integrative efforts (Lebow, 1987; Thomas, 1992), counselor formation activities (Byrne, 1995), theoretical orientation as a basis for practice (Liddle, 1982), and theoretical constructs and processes (Aradi & Kaslow, 1987). Although these approaches to theory building provide counselors with tools to clarify personal beliefs and practices, they de-emphasize or ignore life experiences before graduate training and fail to incorporate stages of counselor development. The framework for theory building presented in this article has been used successfully in graduate counseling and practicum courses and in professional workshops. Our approach to theory building has three phases that correspond generally with Skovholt and Ronnestad's (1992) stages (noted in parentheses): Phase 1-Personal Beliefs (Pre-Training), Phase 2-Counseling Theories (Training), and Phase 3-Personal Theory of Counseling (Post-Training). Each phase reflects the developmental stages of students, thus facilitating its application in the appropriate stage of graduate training (e.g., beginning, advanced). For example, as beginning counselor trainees, students typically struggle to learn and understand large amounts of objective information with little time to integrate this new knowledge. For these students, focusing on Personal Beliefs (Phase 1), can help increase awareness of themselves and others by engaging them in introspective activities that encourage them to explore their personal values, beliefs, and motivations for becoming professional helpers. This focus on what students already know at a time when they are being exposed to new information related to counseling can help "ground" them (i.e., they do know something) and lay the foundation for critically considering how what they are learning fits who they are as individuals. During Phase 2 (Counseling Theories), students study and experiment with different theoretical approaches to counseling and begin to integrate new "external" knowledge with their "self" knowledge. At this stage, students still may be overwhelmed by the amount of information to be absorbed and assimilated and struggle to integrate information into coherent and cohesive ways of thinking about or behaving with clients. In this phase, students can benefit from reviewing their personal beliefs (explored in Phase 1) in the context of what they are learning about counseling theories, approaches, and the helping process. This can be as simple as raising questions in class such as, "How does this theory fit with your beliefs about the change process?" "Do you see ways in which this approach to counseling might not work so well for you as a counselor?" or "With what kinds of issues or clients would this theory seem to work best?" Useful tables outlining the major theories and philosophies can be found in counseling theory textbooks such as Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Corey, 1996). Counselor educators should be sensitive to the strong need of students at this stage for approval and validation. Allowing students to freely explore and discuss their beliefs without undue external influence is critical to the professional development process. In Phase 3 (Personal Theory of Counseling), students involved in practicum and internship experiences actively practice and attempt to master counseling skills, techniques, and concepts. Through practice sessions and actual counseling with clients, students have opportunities and challenges related to "trying on" (and trying out) different theoretical approaches, strategies, and techniques. Although they exhibit varying degrees of confidence in their knowledge and skills, students in this phase are typically able to begin integrating their pretraining experiences, graduate school learning, and emerging professional practices into a personal theory of counseling (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992). Thus, a critical role for practicum and internship supervisors is to help students use the hands-on experience and knowledge they are acquiring to revisit, critically examine, and discuss their personal theory of counseling. This integration continues after graduation and ideally becomes an ongoing challenge for professional counselors as they move through different developmental stages in their personal and professional lives, and as details of their work change (e.g., different work environments, client populations, presenting issues, or specializations). APPLICATION Counselor educators use many approaches to help students develop awareness of their personal strengthsweaknesses, worldviews, and professional positions. The framework for theory building discussed here offers a structure that can guide counselor educators to link specific approaches with appropriate counselor developmental stages. The next step is to link specific exercises and activities to each of these phases so that counselor educators and supervisors can incorporate personal theory building into learning experiences for both beginning and advanced counseling students. Although some activities may already be familiar, applying them within a theory-building framework can result in more intentional, integrative, and effective teaching to enhance student knowledge and awareness. A summary of suggested learning activities for each phase is found in Table