Counselor’s Personal Experience with Counseling

Abstract

Approximately 20 to 30 volunteer and paid community counselors were surveyed in this exploratory study by the author about their experiences with personal therapy and whether they believe they are more effective counselors as a result of their own therapy. The participants in the study were given two surveys. The first survey consisted of five multiple choice questions to measure the counselors own experience with therapy. The second survey consisted of eight short answer questions to measure the counselor’s beliefs about how their own personal therapy has affected their current work as a therapist. The participants in the study ranged from graduate student interns to professional counselors in the fields of counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapists. The author summarizes the prevalence of therapists receiving their own personal counseling, the benefits of counselor’s receiving personal therapy, and the overall affects it has on their effectiveness as a counselor. It should be noted that for this paper the words therapist, counselor, and psychotherapist are used interchangeably.