Education Commons^™

A Qualitative Exploration Of Using Experiential Groups To Train Future Group Counselors, Brittany L. Pollard-Kosidowski, Joel F. Diambra, Julia R. Bettge, Chris K. Burd

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

As counselors routinely provide both individual and group-based services, it is important to prepare trainees to effectively utilize both approaches. One popular method for engaging students in group work training requires them to participate in experiential small groups. Although this requirement meets CACREP’s (2015) standard that students engage in 10 hours of group membership, less specific focus is placed on engaging students in active group facilitation training. This study analyzes qualitative interviews with seven counseling graduates who participated in experiential small groups during their training. Five emergent themes provide insight for counselor educators and accreditors into students’ group training …