A Qualitative Exploration of Feelings of Incompetence Among Counselling Interns

Abstract

This qualitative study drew from Thematic Analysis, inspired by Grounded Theory, to explore how counselling students completing their internship manage their feelings of incompetence. Four master’s level counselling students from three different masters counselling programs in Ontario, Canada were interviewed using a semi-structure interview protocol to gain an in-depth understanding of how they experienced and managed FOI during their internship. Twenty-nine subthemes emerged, which were further categorized into four over arching main themes: (1) experience of FOI, which included eight subthemes; (2) effects of FOI, which included eight subthemes; (3) management of FOI, which included six subthemes; and (4) seeking supports for FOI, which included eight subthemes. The FOI that counsellors-in-training experience can directly impact their clients and the implications of this study related to counselling pedagogy and supervision are discussed.