On March 24, the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MHC) program at Seminary of the Southwest hosted its first-ever MHC Threaded Case Study Discussion, bringing together counseling students from across cohorts and all counseling faculty for an evening of integrative learning.
The gathering marked a milestone for the program, as it created a shared space for students at different stages of training to engage in a common case study they had been exploring throughout their courses. The event was designed to foster deeper reflection on clinical reasoning, professional identity, ethics, spirituality, and systems thinking within the counseling field.
Gena St. David, PhD, Director of the Loise Henderson Wessendorff Center for Counseling and Spirituality and Professor of Counselor Education reflected, “The success of this inaugural event confirmed what we already believe: clinical formation happens best in community. Students didn’t just observe faculty at work — they watched experienced clinicians sit with uncertainty, name power and race, and integrate spirituality with humility, and then they did the same. There is no substitute for that kind of learning, and no better sign of a program’s health than a room full of people at different stages of training thinking hard together.”
The evening began with a faculty “fishbowl” discussion modeled after a Grand Rounds format. Counseling faculty engaged the case study from a variety of clinical perspectives, including individual counseling, child-focused work, couples and family systems, and ethics. As students observed, faculty members demonstrated how experienced clinicians approach complex cases by identifying key concerns, acknowledging where issues of power and race may emerge, considering how spirituality might be integrated responsibly, and making space for uncertainty and professional disagreement in the clinical process.
Following the faculty discussion, students participated in reflective teams made up of mixed cohorts. Each small group examined the case through a specific lens—such as equity, spiritual integration, process observation, or clinical insight—and developed one key reflection and one question to bring back to the larger group.
The evening concluded with a full-group dialogue and a brief written reflection, allowing students and faculty to synthesize insights from the discussion and consider how the case study connected to their ongoing learning and formation as counselors.
The inaugural Threaded Case Study Discussion reflected the counseling program’s commitment to cultivating a learning environment grounded in curiosity, humility, antiracism, and spiritual integration, while strengthening connections across the program’s counseling community.
