Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Katarzyna Peoples

Abstract

Although a large percentage of counselors who are wounded healers eventually become clinical counseling supervisors, little is known about the effects on clinical supervision. Counseling supervisors have the responsibility of gatekeeping, managing client care, and modeling counseling for counselors-in-training; the process is likely affected by woundedness as is the counseling process. The purpose of the current qualitative narrative study was to identify the stories of wounded healers as clinical counseling supervisors to recognize how supervision is affected and influenced by being a wounded healer. The data were analyzed using the theoretical lens of existentialism and the conceptual framework of the wounded healer. Four participants were recruited from social media and licensed professional counseling supervisor list servs. The participants were interviewed via Zoom and audio recorded using a hand-held recorder. A HIPPA-compliant professional transcription service transcribed the audio portion of the recordings. Narrative analysis was used to reveal themes and codes from the participants’ stories. Six themes emerged from the codes: (a) encountering an initial wounding, (b) seeking help and being unsuccessful at healing, (c) receiving healing at a later age, (d) transmitting healing, and (e) offering effective bias-free supervision. Their stories indicated an influence from healing versus unhealed on the supervisory process and relationship. All the supervisors indicated a biased and impaired approach to supervision when healing was not achieved. The research can affect social change by offering a model to provide effective supervision for individuals who are clinical counseling supervisors and identify as wounded healers.

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