Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Guidelines for Research Mentorship: Development and Implementation

Abstract

The authors describe guidelines endorsed by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision for research mentorship, including characteristics of mentors and mentees. Suggestions for implementing the guidelines at the individual, program, institution, and professional levels are focused on enhancing mentoring relationships as well as mentees’ research quality and productivity. Research on research mentoring, based on the guidelines, is encouraged.

Research Training in Doctoral Programs Accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs

“…Since then, ACES leaders have offered preconference workshops (ACES INFORM) for enhancing counseling professionals’ research knowledge and skills. ACES research mentorship guidelines (Borders et al, ; Wester et al, ) and research competencies specific to counseling (Wester & Borders, , in press) have been developed. In addition, Hunt and Trusty () edited a special section of JCD , which provided guidelines for developing and reporting high‐quality research studies in that journal.…”

The mentorship of undergraduate students in counselling psychology research

“…As stated in the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision Guidelines for Mentorship, the main goal of research mentorship is to foster the student's development, taking into account the student's developmental needs (Borders et al, 2012). In discussing the ethical responsibilities that accompany mentorship of undergraduate students, Anderson and Shore (2008) suggested that mentorship requires a respect for the mentee's need for autonomy, along with an awareness of the power differential between the mentor and mentee.…”

“…Interested readers may wish to consult other sources that cover these important topics (e.g. Borders et al, 2012;Johnson, 2002;Shellito et al, 2001).…”

“…In the United States, the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision recently developed a set of guidelines for research mentorship relationships in the specific field of counselling (Borders et al, 2012). According to these guidelines, the main purpose of mentorship is to help foster students' development as a researcher, where the needs of students vary across a developmental spectrum.…”

Volume 6 Issue 1 Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

“…In their qualitative study, Protivnak and Foss (2009) found that CES students were more successful when they had mentoring relationships with faculty members with whom they had shared interests, motivations, and professional endeavors. Although mentorship practices have been addressed in the literature pertaining to students who aspire to be counselor educators and researchers (Borders, Wester, Granello, Chang, Hays, Pepperell, & Spurgeon, 2012;Borders, Young, Wester, Murray, Villalba, Lewis, & Mobley, 2011), mentorship for students who aim to be clinicians appears to be less prevalent (Walker, 2006). Protivnak and Foss (2009) also determined that departmental culture influenced CES doctoral students' successful completion of their program and cited examples of collaborative environments where faculty invited students to teach or write, were responsive to students' needs, and generally made students feel included.…”