LAUSR

ABSTRACT Self-awareness as a core concept in professional development has captured the attention of social work educators and researchers over the past few decades. Although practicing professional self-awareness is highly recommended; some researchers argue that personal and professional self-awareness are intertwined, thereby, cognition and development of personal self-awareness is a prerequisite for professional self-awareness. Researchers have barely explored individuals’ personal experiences of self-awareness. This study aims to address this gap. Through convenience sampling, 35 social work educators from 27 colleges and universities across the United States agreed to participate in this research. The narrative approach, a qualitative method, was employed to analyze the participants’ experiences. The results revealed that five factors facilitate the process of self-awareness: nourished curiosity, marginality, transformation to invulnerability, disenchantment with society, and loss and death. These themes are covered by two “umbrella themes”, inquisitiveness and suffering. These findings can facilitate professional development. By considering the revealed themes, social work educators can emphasize and elaborate on the relationship between personal and professional experiences of self-awareness in social work practice. Educators can also activate students’ inner abilities and direct their attention toward environmental stimuli in order to raise their self-awareness.