Research into practice wisdom has burgeoned over the past four decades, particularly as it relates to health professions such as social work, nursing and medicine. A small body of literature has emerged on practice wisdom as it might relate to the counselling professions, yet this understudied and often misunderstood concept remains somewhat elusive. This presentation and discussion explores the results of a Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutic inquiry into how mid-career counselling professionals (counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists) experienced wisdom in their practice with clients. Practice wisdom is a broad term that includes, but is not limited to, theoretical knowledge (episteme), technical knowledge (techné) and practical wisdom (phronesis). Practice wisdom typically emerges as practitioners’ knowledge and experience becomes more complex and integrated, a process theorised by Rønnestad and Skovholt (2003) as occurring from around 15 years of practice experience. This research is the first to study mid-career experiences of wisdom in counselling practice. An important finding was that wisdom was apparent in the practices of counselling professionals with 12 to 18 years of clinical experience, rendering wisdom relevant to a large group of counselling professionals. Practice wisdom in this study was seen as being a deeply relational, bi-directional, embodied process that is ontologically based.
This presentation will provide opportunities for audience members at any level of experience to reflect on the relevance of practice wisdom to their own professional development and clinical practice.

Rønnestad, M. H., & Skovholt, T. M. (2003). The journey of the counsellor and therapist: Research findings and perspectives on professional development. Journal of Career Development, 30(1), 5-44. https://doi.org/10.1177/089484530303000102

At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to:

1. Differentiate between theoretical, technical and practical forms of knowledge that contribute to practice wisdom in counselling

2. Interpret the key findings regarding the emergence and expression of wisdom among counselling professions with 12 to 18 years of clinical experience

3. Reflect on practice wisdom for one’s own professional development and its relevance to clinical work with clients