The Qualitative Study of “Mindfulness Group” toward the Self-care and Counseling Practice of Counselor Interns Author:Tzung-Bai Shin, Shuh-Ren Jin
Research Article
The study aimed to investigate the effects of “mindfulness group” on the perceptions of counselor interns, including “self-care” and “counseling practice”. The participants were 16 intern counselors with master’s degrees. The participants were divided into two groups for a study of eight consecutive weeks. The data were collected via the focus group and used as the major texts for data analysis. In addition, the questionnaires of the members and the notes of the group leader were analyzed as well. All materials were coded and categorized by qualitative methodology. The results show that the mindfulness group has effects on each of the two variables: self care and counseling practice. For self care: (a) It furthers the degree of awareness and perceptions of the physiological and psychological self; (b) It helps participants open the mind of peacefulness and accept the negative self; (c) It helps participants enjoy the present moment; (d) It helps participants appreciate life experiences. For counseling practice: (a) It helps to promote participants’sensitivity and awareness; (b) It helps participants abandon the authority as experts and practice the relationship with inter-subjectivity; (c) It raises the degree of the concentration on the clients; (d) It helps to broaden participants’eyeshot with the effects of psychological displacement. Finally, the implications in the counseling work and the suggestions for the future research were discussed.