Student counsellors’ experiences of mindfulness as a component of their person‐centred counselling training : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Aim:Mindfulness is increasingly integrated into counselling and psychotherapy practices, as well as being introduced to students in academic institutes with the aim of supporting them to balance the responsibilities of academic study, placements and other commitments alongside university life. Despite mindfulness routinely finding its way into counselling settings and being incorporated into counsellor training, there has yet to be any research conducted to explore the experience of student counsellors who have received mindfulness as a part of their undergraduate person-centred training. This study explored the reflections of counsellors who had attended a mindfulness module during the first year of a counselling degree.Design:Six students completing a university-based undergraduate degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy in the North-West of England, in the UK, participated in the research. The study consisted of two students from each of the three years of the programme. Participants individually attended a semi-structured interview to explore their experiences of mindfulness as a mandatory module of their training in person-centred counselling. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the generated data.Findings:Four superordinate themes were generated: 1) becoming a counsellor, 2) person-centred mindfulness, 3) time, and 4) learning and development.Discussion:Experiential themes were explored including the process of professionalism, vulnerability, embodiment of person-centred theory and the core conditions and the conflict of approach.Conclusion:Recommendations are made for mindfulness to be included in counselling training programmes with a person-centred focus. Suggestions for further research include longitudinal studies to follow the development of trainees over time