A Phenomenological Inquiry: Counselor Educators’ Experiences Training School Counselors to Address Cyberbullying

Nearly one third of adolescents report experiencing cyberbullying, yet limited guidance exists within school counselor training frameworks for preparing school counselors to respond.This study explored the lived experiences of counselor educators in CACREP-accredited programs as they prepared school counseling students to address cyberbullying in K–12 schools. The primary Research Question investigated is: What are the lived experiences of counselor educators teaching in CACREP-accredited programs who train school counseling students to address cyberbullying in K–12 schools?Using Husserlian descriptive phenomenology within a constructivist framework and grounded in Schön’s reflective practice, we conducted semistructured interviews with 12 counselor educators and explicated the data through epoché, horizonalization, and imaginative variation. We identified six themes: cyberbullying as a normalized digital reality; curricular integration through experiential pedagogy; technological fluidity and generational fluency gaps; counselor preparedness and ethical mandate; policy, standards, and systemic accountability; and empathy-driven reconceptualization, prevention, and research. Participants navigated indeterminate digital situations through problem setting, reflection-in-action, and reciprocal learning models that positioned trainees as digital cultural informants.Findings support recommendations for accrediting bodies, counselor education programs, and state licensure boards. Embedding digital literacy, cyber-ethics, and proactive intervention within comprehensive school counseling programs and multitiered systems of support would strengthen trainees’ readiness to deliver Tier 1 and Tier 2 digital safety interventions.