The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experiences of master’s level counseling students who have a counselor education faculty member as their mentor. Seven master’s level counseling students between the ages of 25-30, from a state university, voluntarily participated in this study. Participants were six female students and one male student. Four participants were mental health counseling majors, while three were school counseling majors. Data were collected through a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews. Three themes were developed based on participants’ experiences. They were (1) “going above and beyond,” (2) “guide you and explore options,” and (3) “provide support and encouragement.” The theme “going above and beyond” was described by participants as their mentor performing extra tasks that were not in their job responsibilities. Participants explained “guide you and explore options” in terms of their mentor guiding them in their professional development and career options. The theme “provide support and encouragement” described the participants’ mentors showing genuine interest in them and providing them with support and encouragement throughout their relationship. Based on previous literature, research, and the current study, a mentoring framework for counselor education is proposed. The framework contains three categories which are (1) guidance, (2) encouragement, and (3) above and beyond. Implications for counselor educators and recommendations for future research are provided.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of language anxiety, acculturation and social connectedness with American people to the counseling self-efficacy of international counseling students (ICSs) in the United States. The study used hierarchical multiple regression analysis with a sample of ICSs from counseling, counseling psychology and related programs in the U.S. (N=72). Major findings indicated that ICSs’ language anxiety was inversely associated with their counseling self-efficacy; neither ICSs’ acculturation nor social connectedness with American people had a significant relationship with counseling self-efficacy. Further, there was no significant interaction between language anxiety and social connectedness with American people; language anxiety, acculturation, social connectedness with American people, and the interaction between language anxiety and social connectedness with American people together did not account for a significantly different amount of variance in counseling self-efficacy over and above the variance accounted for by language anxiety alone. Implications, limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling 2016

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Counselor education programs strive to promote the personal development and wellness of counselors in addition to cognitive, skill, and professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in self-reported levels of wellness of master's level counseling students. The cross-sectional study investigated the influence of time in a counselor education program on the wellness levels of counseling students. Students were surveyed at three points in their counselor education training: the beginning, middle, and end. Participants included 204 master's level counseling students enrolled in three CACREP-accredited counselor education programs located in the southeastern United States. Each participant completed the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel) and a demographic questionnaire. A monotonic trend analysis was conducted in SPSS Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) to answer the question of whether master's level counseling students report higher levels of wellness as they advance through a counseling program. Additional univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed in order to answer questions related to the influence of demographic variables. Results of the study yielded no significant trends in self-reported levels of wellness by students as they progressed through their counselor training. Furthermore, gender, cultural background, and a requirement for personal counseling were not significant in accounting for differences in the wellness levels of students. However, those students who reported that their counselor education program offered a wellness course reported statistically significant higher levels of wellness. Responses to an open ended question on the demographic questionnaire, 'What, if anything, have you learned in your counseling coursework that has helped you develop knowledge and skills regarding your personal wellness?" were included in the discussion to provide insight into the results of the study. The findings suggested that, while counselor education programs may not increase levels of wellness in students, evidence from the demographic questionnaire indicated that personal development and wellness were emphasized. Perhaps systematic procedures for teaching and evaluating student wellness could be implemented in counselor education programs to insure that goals regarding personal development and wellness are being met.

Attitudes and beliefs influence how counselors practice. This study explored four psychosocial factors and their correlation to the attitudes of graduate counseling students' (N = 28) toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. The four main psychosocial factors that were identified in previous research include knowledge level, religiosity, political affiliation, and previous experience with LGBTQ individuals. The hypothesis of this study was there are relationships between attitudes toward LGBTQ individuals and the aforementioned psychosocial factors. Students were invited to participate through emails sent by the Director of the Counseling Education program. The survey used to collect data included a demographics questionnaire and three scales. The findings did not show any significant correlations between knowledge level, religiosity, and political affiliation and attitudes. Personal relationships and attitudes could not be tested due to limitations of the study. These findings were not congruent with previous research.

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Counselor educators are continually improving the quality of their training programs. The purpose of the present study was to investigate counseling students’ practicum experiences and development in community-based and department-based settings. The framework for this study was based on Stoltenberg’s integrated developmental model, which describes stages of counselor development and supervision conditions needed for a learning environment (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987; Stoltenberg & McNeill, 2010; Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998) A nation-wide study was conducted utilizing counselor education practicum students enrolled in programs listed in the CACREP program directory (2008) and Counselor Preparation: Programs, Faculty, Trends (12th ed.; Schweiger, Henderson, Clawson, Collins, & Nuckolls, 2008), and subscribed to three listserves COUNSGRAD, CESNET, and COUNSLINK. A total of 435 responses were collected electronically with a completion rate of 70% (N = 305). The Demographic and Experience Questionnaire and the Supervision Level Questionnaire Revised (SLQ-R) were used. The results of this study indicated that practicum students’ experiences differed in community-based versus department-based settings. Students in department-based settings reported their settings were more structured than did students in community-based settings. Students who rated their settings as more structured also reported they were more satisfied with the amount of structure. Direct supervision modalities were utilized more often in department-based settings than in community-based settings. Students in community-based settings were supervised by licensed professional counselors, licensed professional counselor – supervisors, and licensed clinical social workers. Students in department-based settings were supervised by counseling professors, licensed professional counselors, licensed professional counselor – supervisors, and counseling doctoral students. Despite the differences in structure, supervision modalities, and supervisors, practicum students reported similar experiences in client population types and client issues. Additionally, no differences were found in counseling practicum students’ SLQ-R scores in community-based versus department-based settings, and no differences in students’ SLQ-R scores were found in direct supervision in comparison to indirect supervision. The number of supervision modalities used in practicum settings was not related to students’ SLQ-R scores. Significant relationships were found in two of the sub-scales on the SLQ-R: self and others awareness and autonomy with practicum students’ number of credit hours completed.

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