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Article Excerpt
This article describes challenges to wellness that counselors face when working with clients. Autobiographical reflections are used to illustrate the personal nature of some of these challenges and how this affects counselor effectiveness and wellness. Additionally, assessment measures and theoretical models for promoting and maintaining wellness are presented.
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A common utterance from counselors in their practice with clients is the statement "You need to make sure to take care of yourself, eat well, get good sleep, and reduce your stress." Like doctors, however, counselors often are remiss in taking their own advice about wellness. Often, we counselors believe we can handle it and that we do not need to be concerned with our own wellness because it does not affect our professional practice. In our daily work, we encounter clients who have tremendous pain. We are their sounding boards and reflectors of feelings. The essence of counseling is to consistently summon the energy to engage with another human's emotions while at the same time balancing our own personal experiences and challenges outside of the job. Jeffrey Kottler described his challenges of providing good client care while feeling distressed as follows: "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel impaired in some way, hopefully not to the point that I hurt others, but at least to the point that my levels of competence are diminished" (Kottler & Hazler, 1996, p. 100). Even prominent historical figures in the field of counseling, such as Carl Rogers, described having difficulty with managing self-care and client care: "I have always been better at caring for and looking after others than I have in caring for myself" (Rogers, 1995, p. 80).
This article highlights some of the challenges that counselors face in identifying and maintaining their own wellness, as well as some strategies and resources for assessing one's own wellness. Throughout the article, the third author (Anita Jones), a counselor and a member of the American Counseling Association's Task Force on Exemplary Practices for Promoting Wellness for Counselors, shares her personal story of life's challenges, her path to recovery, and the effect such experiences had on her work as a counselor. She begins as follows:
Working as a clinical supervisor for a residential treatment center came with tremendous stress. Crisis calls came in 24 hours, 7 days per week. There was daily responsibility of staff and ancillary personnel. I taught at a local junior college and made public presentations. In addition, I had the personal stressors that are part of my life's journey. My elderly mother shared our home. We had taken physical custody of a little boy whose mother was an addict with mental illness, which added complexities to our already busy lifestyle. Our youngest adult son had been diagnosed 3 years earlier with schizophrenia. Counselors who work with schizophrenic clients and their families know about the challenges and disruption to any family this illness brings. Life was unpredictable, but manageable. I had a strong supportive partner, a terrific supervisor, good friends, and family who made themselves available. (A. Jones)
Even with a good support system and adequate supervision, it is well known that counselors are vulnerable to distress because of the nature of the work that they do. However, many counselors may not realize that their own relationships and state of mental health can make them vulnerable. A study (Sherman & Thelen, 1998) of 522 practicing psychologists indicates that half reported relationship problems and that work with traumatized clients was related to their own experiences of distress or impairment. In a similar study (Pope, Tabachnick, & Keith-Spiegel, 1987), 60% of practicing psychologists surveyed indicated that they very often worked while under distress. In the decade since the 1996 special issue of the Journal of Humanistic Education and Development (now called the Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development) addressed counselor impairment, the counseling profession has seen a shift in focus from merely identifying and responding to counselor impairment to promoting counselor wellness as a preventative measure. Although this shift is important in terms of the prevention of impairment, it is imperative that counselors continue to be vigilant about identifying experiences and factors that tax their ability to maintain physical and emotional wellness.
Since 1996, research has more clearly identified factors that affect counselor wellness and that make us as counselors more vulnerable to distress. From the research, it appears that there are important factors to consider at the personal level, the counselor-client relationship level, and the work level (Deutsch, 1985; Figley, 1999; Sherman & Thelen, 1998; Skovholt, 2001).
IMPACT OF COUNSELOR LIFE EVENTS, CLIENT TRAUMA, AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
Contrary to what many counselors believe, we are not immune to the effects of personal life events or to the impact of our work with often traumatized populations. Deutsch (1985) examined the question of whether therapists maintain positive mental health and the influence of personal factors on their work. In Deutsch's study of 294 therapists, she found that more than three fourths reported experiencing relationship difficulties and that 47% of all of the therapists surveyed had at some time in their lives sought therapy for relationship problems. More than half of the therapists surveyed reported experiencing depression in their lives, with only one fourth reporting having received therapy for depression. Another study by Sherman and Thelen (1998) supports the findings of Deutsch. Their survey of 522 therapists found that life events such as relationship problems or major personal illness or injury caused counselors to feel significant distress. Specifically, Sherman and Thelen found that therapists tend to feel less satisfied in their personal lives when dealing with stressful life events. This dissatisfaction can affect counselors' satisfaction with work, resulting in cancelled, late, and missed therapy sessions; a reduced ability to be empathic; and an inability to meet the basic requirements of the job.
Personal Vulnerability to Distress
A personal history of trauma, unresolved personal issues, and life stressors significantly influence counselors' ability to manage stress (Figley, 2002; Valent, 1995; Yassen, 1993). Counselors who have previously or are currently experiencing trauma are at high risk for developing compassion fatigue and job burnout (Pearlman & Mac Ian, 1995). Yassen (1993) suggested that counselors who are abuse survivors may have difficulty setting boundaries with clients, which may increase their vulnerability to impairment.
Cognitive coping ability and personality characteristics also appear to affect how counselors react to stress (Skovholt, 2001). A counselor who has difficulty analyzing and responding to ambiguous...
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