Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Degges-White, Suzanne

Second Advisor

Fickling, Melissa

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)

Abstract

Counselor reflexivity is an integral component of the skill set and professional identity of the effective counselor. However, counseling skills and methods courses often do not include the teaching of this practice within their curriculum of valuable counseling techniques. Further, there also exists a gap in scholarly counseling literature about counselor reflexivity. Through this qualitative multi-case study of five counseling skills/counseling methods courses I sought to discover if counselor educators understood and subsequently taught this practice which seems to be underrepresented in such courses. First, through a review of supporting literature my study revealed no clear delineation of counselor reflexivity but instead revealed two primary related practices which informed my creation of such a definition, reflective practice (RP) and self-awareness (SA). Using my synthesized definition of counselor reflexivity as a guide, subsequent semi-structured interviews and document examination produced two data sets from which triangulated analysis revealed a clear answer to my two research questions: interviews and document review. My findings produced individual case themes which were then analyzed for cross-case themes. Based on cross-case analysis, two primary conclusions were drawn. First, Counselor reflexivity is indicative of several principles which are ubiquitous in counseling scholarship but not present as an integrated and cohesive concept for practical inclusion in counselor education programs (CEP). Second, counselor reflexivity is not suited as a practice to be taught in CSCMC but rather is more appropriately disseminated as an expected CIT disposition, applied across CEP courses as a foundational programmatic framework.

Extent

170 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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