Understanding the Experience of Power in Pastoral Counseling Identity Development among African American Women through the Use of Art as a Heuristic Tool

Training in pastoral counseling engages students in a formation and integration process where their pastoral identity can develop. Scarce information exists regarding the experience of African American female students in pastoral counseling programs. The limited scholarship that does report the experience of minority pastoral counseling graduate students highlighted only negative experiences of power during formation. This study explored the experiences of power of 11 African American female pastoral counselors in training across two universities. Through the use of a heuristic research design, art (created by both the participants and the researcher) was utilized as part of data collection and data analysis: contributing significantly to the research findings that tacitly emerged. Results rendered six final essences that reflected the participants' experiences of power as African American women which included experiences of empowerment and powerlessness. The six final essences also revealed the impact of the participants' spirituality and religiousness on their experiences of power, the influence of experiences of power on their integration process, and the experience of utilizing art to explore experiences of power. Additional discussion centered on pastoral implications for training (including suggestions and recommendations for pastoral counseling educators and supervisors) and implications for future research.