Emotional Experiences and Professional Development:A Counselor’s Self-narrative Study

[[abstract]]The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the counselor’s emotional experiences during growth progress on counseling profession. This study is based on self-narrative. The methods adopted in this thesis are based on the narrative methodology and the analysis of holistic content. The results of the study are shown as follows: 1.The experiences of the counselor’s emotional experiences during growth process include three dimensions: “the girl who desires to win does not want to undertake the bitterness of failure”, “the emotions which dance with relationships”, and “the safety under the helmet which avoids touching emotions. ” 2.The effects that the counselor’s emotional experiences have during growth progress on counseling profession include: (1)The experiences of “dealing with negative emotions” will affect the effect of counseling. The effects upon the counseling profession of the counselor for this dimension include: a.“ Excellence” means no expression of negative emotions. b. The occurrence of the rigid patterns when dealing with negative emotions obstructs the counseling effect. (2) The counselor’s attitudes of how the relationship should be managed affect the counseling relationship. The effects upon the counseling profession of the counselor for this dimension include: a. The stresses of the personal relationship and the fear of losing relationship. b. The accommodation and ingratiation obstructs the counseling relationship. 3. The reflections of the counselor’s emotional experiences during growth process on counseling profession The suggestions for this dimension include: (1) Coordinating personal growth experience to figure out the counselor’s context of growing up so as to realize the effects upon counseling profession. (2) Being supervised and self- awareness will reflect and clarify the effects of counselor’s personal issues during counseling process. (3) Shedding the anxiety of dealing with negative emotions will increase empathy and enhance the ability of “feeling of emotions.” (4) Clarifying the myth of relationship will avoid the impasse during counseling process. (5) Accepting counseling will acquire “corrective experiences” during interpersonal reactions and normalize counseling relationship. (6) The professional growth of a counselor is also the growth of a human being.