Being present with clients has been suggested to be a necessary condition for the therapeutic relationship [Geller & Greenberg, 2012. "Therapeutic presence: A mindfull approach to effective therapy." Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/13485-000] and therefore for therapeutic effectiveness. In this article we describe the results of a qualitative investigation of how counsellors in training (CITs) describe their experience of being present and the meaning they make of that experience. The findings suggest that starting students down the pathway to becoming a master counsellor involves more than training in basic counselling skills and theories. Our findings add a new dimension to existing counsellor development models and have implications for counsellor training and supervision.