| This research study sought to explore the critical incidents in counselors' development and how these incidents influenced their personal and professional development. Qualitative research methods with semi-structured and in-depth interviews were used in this study. The interviewees were and still are in the counseling profession and they have reported using different counseling approaches. Examination of the transcripts revealed three domains, which were 'mentoring', 'adversity', and 'personal integration'. In the 'mentoring' domain, interviewees described how they developed an inspiring relationship with their mentors, and how they separated themselves from the influence of mentors and went through the individuation process. In the 'adversity' domain, interviewees indicated how adversity in their development occurred. They overcame the adversity through family support, getting insight from individual counseling and counseling training, personal belief and the guidance of mentors. The adversity experience opened up opportunities for personal and professional growth. In the 'personal integration' domain, interviewees described the experience of practicing integration of counseling and spirituality in counseling settings. This study showed that critical incidents could occurr at different life stages of the interviewees. Finally, suggestions on enhancing the counseling training programs and future research were made to counselors, counseling educators, and the researchers on the basis of the research results. |
