A Phenomenological Study on Meaningful Relationship Experience and Personal Growth of Intermediate Counselors

Abstract

Objectives This study was conducted to reveal the essence of meaningful relationship experiences experienced in real life and the personal growth experiences of intermediate counselors.
 Methods By applying Giorgi's phenomenological research method as a research method, in-depth interviews and data analysis were conducted on eight intermediate counselors with more than 4 years of counseling experience.
 Results As a result, 114 semantic units, 30 sub-themes, and 10 upper-level topics were found. The top 10 topics are as follows: “Struggling in a shallow and superficial relationship,” “Family relationships are the most lively, rawest relationship learning laboratory,” “Training yourself in a sense of stability from being understood and accepted,” “Bringing yourself together with various relationships you've met at the counseling site,” “Building a life of self-esteem,” and “Restructuring your perspective of yourself and others,” “Treating yourself and others with a warm heart,” “Establishing proper attitude of a counselor,” “Building sincere relationships with clients,” “Learning the internal circuit for building relationships that save lives”.
 Conclusions This study is significant in that it specifically presented the meaningful relationship experiences experienced by intermediate counselors in real life with an in-depth examination method and explored in detail how it is expressed in the counselor's personal growth. In addition, not only improving professional qualities through counseling practice and theoretical education, this study can be used as a material to educate counselors the significance of counselors’ personal qualities as an instrument for counseling practice and encourage them to work on real-life relationship experiences for personal growth.