Developing Wisdom in Counselors of the Future: Ignatian Pedagogy Applied to Counselor Education and Supervision

The counselor’s wisdom has been identified as an essential ingredient to culturally relevant counseling. The Ignatian pedagogical paradigm (IPP) is a promising avenue for developing wisdom traits in counselors. Cultural relevance and openness to different perspectives are integral to IPP in terms of the use of focused reflection on personal context, the person’s relationship to the world, action taken in response to experience, and reflection on that experience. Character traits of wisdom are defined and the relevance of wisdom in the development of effective, culturally relevant therapeutic relationships is established. The five components of IPP are described and related to the development of the counselor’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes. It is theorized that wisdom in the self of the counselor is developed as the IPP is applied in counselor education. Applications of IPP are discussed in relation to clinical practice, leadership roles, and counselor education programs.