Exploring experiences of person-centered and experiential counselors, therapists and trainees

Person-centered and experiential therapies can be said to be founded on lived experiences of the therapist, or trainee as therapist-in-training, especially as described by the core conditions of congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. However, what is the actual phenomenology of those conditions? What are those lived experiences?

This special issue brings together seven perspectives on the lived experience of the therapist or trainee. Feldman (2024) investigates the experience of metaphor in relation to three interviews with non-directive person-centered therapists. Themes included curiosity in abandonment of certainty and a sense of brief connection. Emphasis is placed on the dialogue and experience of contact fostered between therapists and their clients in addition to the empathy and process during the occurrence of metaphors.

Peacock (2024) explores the experiences of four heterosexual person-centered therapist working with LGBQ clients. The goal of the work is to open increased dialogue in training and practice for sexual majority therapists working with sexual minority clients. The therapists discussed how they developed and had formative experiences in their work with LGBQ clients. Their work has also helped them see their own and others’ experience and witness socially hidden experiences and poignant moments differently. Finally, the therapists explained their own experiences in relation to person-centered theoretical concepts, which in turn leads into the discussion, with its emphasis on theoretical silences and the need to open up further dialogue to benefit both therapists and clients alike.

Chouliara et al. (2024) discusses therapists’ experience of therapeutic trust when working with clients who have experienced complex trauma. They interviewed 13 therapists and examined the data they collected through a person-centered lens. They report on the essence and nature of trust, its function and elements, how it is built and maintained, as well as the challenges that can get in the way.

What is special about the experience of person-centered counselors who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? In an analysis of interviews with three counselors who have received this diagnosis, Lewis (2024) examines experiences of not only impulsive self-disclosure, inattention, and emotional dysregulation but also perceptions of heightened curiosity and unconditional positive regard. What are the challenges for their practice but also how do these experiences enhance their work with clients? Read Lewis’s Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to learn more.

Next, find two qualitative studies focused on the experiences of trainees. Namiki (2024) introduces a training activity designed to intrapersonally and interpersonally explore the experiences of trainees and then reports on an interpretive phenomenological analysis of interviews with five trainees who took part in the activity. Explore with Namiki the theoretical integrations, dialogs, and importance of group climate that arise from the use of this innovative method. Bevly et al. (2024) explore how experiential growth groups help promote trainee authenticity and interpersonal skills and how counselor educators and trainers can best set such groups up to succeed. Read into the article to see how prior life experiences, learning therapy, and various challenges arise in these frequently used, but not frequently discussed, professional development encounter groups.

Finally, Susan Stephen (2024) reviews Levitt’s Questioning Psychology: Beyond Theory and Control, a personal reflection offered by the author to new and experienced psychologists as an alternative to the usual textbooks. She describes Levitt’s work as a ‘masterpiece in articulating the ethical values’ that for Stephen are the foundation of person-centered practice. Stephen pulls out four big ideas with quotes from the book to introduce the reader to some of what they could expect in the book.