Abstract:
This qualitative research aimed to explore the psychological experiences on counseling engagement of clients, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Participants were six clients, aged between 26 and 37 years old, who had completed face-to-face individual counseling and had changed positively as the result. Data were collected via semi-structured in-depth interviews. The study resulted in the three main themes which were 1) Determination to attend counseling, consisting of inability to solve problems by oneself, trust in counseling (encouragement from others, positive attitude towards seeking professional help, and the suitability of counseling), and readiness to disclose. 2) Freely disclosing internal experiences, consisting of trust in confidentiality, psychological closeness, acceptance, and appropriate boundary. 3) Working towards change, consisting of problem exploration with the counselor, responsibility to change, and behavior test in daily life. The relevant findings were discussed. The research provides better understandings of clients counseling engagement. Clients may use the research findings to increase their counseling engagement, while counselors may use the research findings to encourage counseling engagement of their clients.