Auto-ethnography of Self-growth Stories for the Individuation of School Counselors (Professional Teacher-counselors and Professional counselors) Who Are Suffering from ‘Between’ - Based on Insight in Sandplay Therapy and Dream analysis -

Abstract

This article aims to provide auto-ethnography for self-growth and individuation through the experience of applying sandplay therapy to school counseling of 11 professional teacher-counselors and professional school counselors, changes in the counseling effect, and the counselors’ own sandplay therapy and dream symbol analysis. The auto-ethnographical research has mainly been about the experiences of one or two researcher(s)-participant(s), but in this study, 11 researchers-participants participated in the study to express and inform their common experiences in school counseling. The researcher-participants have experience of school counseling from 2 years and 5 months to 11 years and 5 months, and they are all female counselors. Research data include dreams and dream associations, sandpictures and association about sandplay pictures, related life events and experiences, contemplation, recollection, insights, observations of researchers/research participants, sharings by group SNS, individual interviews have been used. The four common themes are found: 1. dreaming of becoming school teacher-counselor/school counselor, 2. frustration: self-blame and resentment, 3. searching for breakthrough: finding identity, 4. accepting incompleteness, which is still in progress. Among them, searching for breakthrough: finding identity has two sub-themes: sandplay and dream: encounter with the inner world and wrestling with regrets for children.