| A novice therapist (also referred to as therapist/counsellor trainee or student therapist) is an individual who is either untrained or has received very minimal training in any professional counselling program. Research on novice therapists has typically been restricted to their professional development. According to these theories, the professional career of a therapist develops along a continuum with beginning, intermediate, and final stages corresponding to the beginning, middle, and ending of a career. However, empirical research on the actual experiences of novice therapists has been exiguous; findings revealed that they are concerned with the practical aspects of therapy, such as acquiring technical therapeutic skills. Research that used the critical incident (CI) approach generally found that the most salient CIs for student therapists came across in both professional and personal areas. Regarding supervision, student therapists expressed satisfaction with their supervisors when they received support, guidance, and structured direction for skills training. The current study explores student therapists' self-perceptions about the development of their identities as therapists. Seven students who were enrolled in clinical psychology programs in Canada took part in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Themes that were formulated based on participants' accounts included: prior experiences, anxiousness and identity approximation, acquiring comfort and confidence, supervision, peripheral support, identity consolidation, and boundaries and self-care. A theory was generated, based on these themes, to meaningfully explain novice therapists' development of identity. Participants' narratives reflected a general progression in which students do not see themselves as therapists prior to delivering therapy. After initial contact with clients, students experience feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty, and repudiate the therapist label. With increased experience and observation of supervisors, students quickly build foundational therapeutic skills, and experience a shift in confidence thereafter. With continued experience, positive gains in therapy and positive feedback from clients and supervisors solidify self-identification as a therapist. This study adds to the literature on clinical psychology student development, and identifies implications for clinical psychology training. |
