Date of Conferral

12-19-2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Corinne Bridges

Abstract

Current research into Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited counseling programs has provided data that counselor educators and supervisors (CESs) who conduct themselves in an unprofessional manner affect their colleagues, peers, and students. Although there is an existing problem of unprofessionalism impacting students, there is a dearth of information on this exploration through a qualitative lens. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of counseling students impacted by their CESs displaying unprofessional behaviors. Participants were master’s-level counseling students in a brick and mortar CACREP-accredited program who were either currently enrolled or had recently graduated. Through purposive sampling seven participants met the inclusion criteria and completed the semi-structured interview. Using Giorgi’s descriptive analysis process, four main themes emerged including multiple experiences of unprofessional behavior with CES, participants’ experiences as academic distress, participants’ growth post-academic distress, and participants’ viewing CES as counselors. Additionally, there were 12 subthemes. This research provides positive social change implications including greater emphasis on CESs’ dispositions as ethical mandates, a recommended addition in CACREP standards for CESs to be formally evaluated, and future gatekeeping procedures for CESs.

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