Abstract: In this paper, we explore role-playing and experiential learning approaches applied in an immersive virtual environment for a professional counseling distance course. Training professional counselors requires practice and therefore possesses a challenge for the distant education. Although both counseling professionals’ codes of ethics provide guidance for the ethical practice in difficult situations, the prevailing response among many of these professionals tends to be ambivalent. We explored conditions that influenced knowledge acquisition of graduate rehabilitation counseling students who role-played two challenging scenarios and then had a possibility to review the performance. The data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. The potential of the teaching method and the supporting technology are discussed. The findings indicate that role-playing and experiential learning are valued by the participants as a teaching method in a distance course.