A Phenomenological Exploration of Client Meaningful Experiences in Family Counseling

Abstract

This is a constructivist phenomenological study of client meaningful experiences in family counseling where researchers employed two post-session interviews with each family. The sample consisted of six participants (three families) who ranged in age from seven to 47. Participant racial/ethnic identities included five White and one biracial and gender identities included four female and two male. Findings revealed the following themes: (a) counseling sessions are a positive experience and something to look forward to, with subthemes counselor exhibits unconditional positive regard, differs in positive ways from previous counseling experiences and counselors, and play and mindfulness activities; (b) counseling is family focused, with subthemes counseling has strengthened the family bond and counseling has helped family identify strengths; and (c) counseling is a process, with subthemes collectively seeing improvement in child’s behavior, learning coping skills, and processing difficult subjects and emotions. Findings and implications for counselors are discussed.