“Permission to Be Human”: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring New Counselors’ Growth in Emotional Awareness and Attunement to Self

The ability to self-attune, recognize emotional responses, and make meaning of these experiences within their own historied contexts is the foundation of the interpersonal work of counselors. Focused attention on affective development within a counseling program is essential to prepare future counselors for the task of helping individuals develop greater emotional awareness. Manuscript one includes a scoping review that seeks to map out current terminology used within counselor education related to affective development and explore how it is intentionally addressed in the counselor education literature. Current exploration of affective development within counselor education are discussed in seven emergent themes: Stress and Distress Management, Empathy, Self-Efficacy, Competency and Readiness, Self-Awareness, Use of Taxonomy within Counselor Education, and Measurement and Effectiveness of Counselor Training. Findings underscored the foundational role of affective development in counselor training and highlighted the need to better understand implementation of intentionally focused training for new counselors.

Manuscript two includes a narrative inquiry exploring the process of affective development and the factors that facilitate growth within emotional awareness and ability to self-attune for new counselors (n = 5). New counselors with training within Expressive Arts therapy were interviewed to investigate the process of intentional self-attunement within counselor education training. Five themes emerged from the overarching narratives of participants around the process of attuning to affect and deepening emotional awareness: recognition of dissonance, experiencing acceptance, engaging with ambiguity, attunement to self, and adapting. Implications for counselor education are discussed, focusing on tools for facilitating engagement with necessary ambiguity and factors that foster relational safety within counselor education.