Novice Counselor’s Group Skills Through Personal Reflection and Facilitation

One requirement by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) is for counselors-in-training (CITs) to be able to perform group counseling sessions. Further, CACREP suggests a 10-hour group counseling facilitation experience. In order to assist students in improving their group counseling skills, novice CITs must practice being group facilitators and are asked to explore their skills through personal reflection Thirteen CITs in a master’s-level group counseling course at a historically black college and university (HBCU) explored and wrote their personal reflections after conducting a group session. Through using a grounded theory method, empathy was a recurring theme among the CITs. Implications for novice group counselors and future research are discussed.