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Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0001-7525-7853

Author Biographies

Amber L. Pope is a Licensed Professional Counselor and an Assistant Professor in the Department of School Psychology and Counselor Education at William & Mary. Her research centers on culturally responsive and innovative pedagogical practices in counselor education and LGBTQ+ affirming counseling.

Chelsea Hilliard is a licensed school counselor and 3rd year doctoral student in the Counseling & Human Services program at Old Dominion University. Her research interests are improving school counselor education and the delivery of culturally responsive school counseling services.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7290/tsc06N72r

Abstract

Although research on virtual reality (VR) as a pedagogical tool within counselor education is scarce, the parallel use of VR in health sciences education indicates VR simulations may have similar utility and effectiveness in training counselors. This conceptual piece aims to assist counselor educators in building VR simulations for counselors-in-training (CITs). The authors review the research on VR usage in counselor education and explore the practical implications of VR simulations for training counselors. The authors describe the development and utilization of VR simulations across multiple stages of training in a counselor education master’s program to support CITs’ clinical skill development during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advantages, limitations, and diversity and equity considerations of VR simulation usage in counselor training are discussed.

Public Significance Statement

Virtual reality simulations are a versatile pedagogical tool that can enhance counselors-in-training’s clinical skills across a variety of topics and situations in a safe and controlled environment. We describe the development and implementation of VR simulations in a master’s counseling program to provide counselor educators with examples of how they can deploy VR simulations their courses, along with suggestions for using VR simulations in an ethical and inclusive manner.

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