Abstract:
Postgraduate counselling psychology training at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa (SA), is
done according to the researcher-practitioner model. An important aspect that is addressed during the
unfolding of the postgraduate counselling psychology programme is professional development, which
consists of professional practice and personal growth. Professional practice addresses the legislative
context of practising psychology in SA, while personal growth focuses on the “person” of the
postgraduate counselling psychology students. During the programme personal growth is addressed
through supervision, counselling and an adventure experience. The purpose of this research is to
describe the personal growth of 19 students through an adventure experience in the province of
KwaZulu-Natal, SA. The students participated in various adventure activities (archery, obstacle
course, sea kayaking, sea rafting, abseiling), as well as in eight group debriefing sessions. At the end
of the adventure experience the students reflected in writing on their adventure experience. The
research was conducted from a descriptive phenomenological position and the written reflections
analysed according to the Duquesne Phenomenological Research Method (DPRM). From the analysis
it seems that the essence of the students’ personal growth pertained to students growing in
awareness; challenging their boundaries; discovering uniqueness, creating trust amongst one another
and demonstrating the ability to collectively establish group cohesion.
