Godspeed: Counselor Education Doctoral Student Experiences from Diverse Religious and Spiritual Backgrounds

Amidst growing literature regarding the importance of spirituality within

counseling and counselor education, little is known of the experiences of

doctoral students regarding their religious and spiritual backgrounds while

matriculating through their doctoral program. This research explored the

experiences of four researcher-participant counselor education doctoral

students from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds. This exploration

deepened their understanding of the role their religious and spiritual identities

played in their thoughts, emotions, challenges, and strengths of their

experiences. A phenomenological autoethnography method was used for this

study. A unique data analysis procedure was developed called Integrative

Group Process Phenomenology (IGPP), which was used to analyze journal and

music data. The overarching experience was described as a journey with four

primary categories of themes identified: painful experiences, learning and

awareness, velocity (i.e., themes descriptive of movement and action), and

connect versus disconnect. This research brought to light the challenges that

counselor education doctoral students may encounter in their training, while

highlighting the strength and resilience that religion and spirituality may offer.

Recommendations, limitations, and implications for the counseling profession

are offered to further the development of research regarding religious and

spiritual experiences