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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
This highly anticipated second edition written for students, clinicians, educators, and supervisors offers practical perspectives on the lifelong quest for personal wellness. Through conversational and deeply personal narratives, the authors reveal their self-care journeys at different stages of their careers, and 39 guest contributors—ranging from graduate students to counseling veterans—share how they overcome setbacks and prioritize self-care to maintain competent, ethical practice.
Topics include practicing self-care throughout your career, strategies for managing stress, establishing personal and professional boundaries, enhancing relationships, finding meaning in life, and creating a realistic self-care plan. Firsthand accounts throughout the book have been updated, and new narratives have been added on self-care practices for healing from grief, self-care for grief counselors, staying committed to self-care, global self-care practices, permission to be, creating balance among chaos, making self-care nonnegotiable, contemplations at midcareer, and self-care planning.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
New to the Second Edition
Overview of the Book
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
About the Guest Contributors
Chapter 1: Taking Care of Yourself
Self-Care as an Ethical Mandate
Wellness and Self-Care
Therapeutic Presence and Wellness
Caring for Self and Others
Improving Your Self-Care Practices
Empathy Fatigue and Counselor Impairment
Happiness: A Foundation of Self-Care
Be Kind to Yourself
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 2: Seasons of a Career
Early Career
Jude Austin’s Early Career Experiences: “Come Hell or High Water”
Julius Austin’s Early Career Experiences: “A Challenging Transition”
Reflections on Our Future Careers: “Learning From Our Elders”
Michelle Muratori’s Early Career Experiences
Jerry Corey’s Early Career Experiences
Midcareer
Michelle Muratori’s Midcareer Experiences
Jerry Corey’s Midcareer Experiences
Late Career
Jerry Corey’s Experiences During Late Career
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 3: Self-Care in Graduate School
Incorporating Self-Care in Graduate School
Michelle Muratori’s Graduate School Experiences: Taming My Inner Critic
Perfectionism: A Blessing or a Curse?
Jerry Corey’s Graduate School Experiences
Julius Austin’s Experience in Graduate School
Lessons From Graduate Students on Meeting the Challenges of Self-Care
Jude Austin’s Growth and Change in Graduate School
Twins’ Experience of Self-Care in Graduate School
Embracing Challenges and Getting the Most Out of Your Graduate Education
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 4: Personal and Professional Stressors
Life and Stress: You Can’t Have One Without the Other
Losing Our Way and Finding Our Way Back
Experiencing Setbacks in Our Self-Care
Stress in Our Personal Lives: Experiences With Grief
Positive Life Changes and Stress
The Impact of Cultural Stressors
Coping With Calamity: Dealing With the Aftermath of Disasters
The Hazards of Chronic Stress
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 5: Strategies for Managing Stress
Combating Stress in a Stressful World
Religious/Spiritual Involvement and Meaning in Life
The Role of Nutrition and Diet in Self-Care
Designing Your Exercise Program
Re-Creating Ourselves Through Recreation
Providing Service to Others as a Lifestyle Pattern
Changing the Way You Think as a Route to Managing Stress
Personal Therapy as a Form of Self-Care
Promoting Self-Care Through the Practice of Self-Reflection
Reflecting on Your Self-Care Practices
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 6: Establishing Personal and Professional Boundaries
Healthy Work–Life Boundaries
The Good Life
Gaining Support From Colleagues
Finding Balance After a Wake-Up Call
Codependency as a Barrier to Self-Care
Client Boundary Issues and Their Toll on Self-Care
Understanding Your Limitations
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 7: Relationships With Self and Others
Relationship With Self
Forgiveness of Others and Self
Relationships With Others
Practicing Self-Care Within a Community
Mentorship
Our Reflections on Mentoring and Being Mentored
Ways to Benefit From Mentors
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 8: Finding Meaning in Life
Finding Meaning in the Midst of Self-Doubt
Philosophical Perspectives on the Meaning of Life
Key Figures in Existential Psychotherapy
Meaning and Counselor Self-Care
Research on the Meaning of Life
Religion/Spirituality and Meaning in Life
Finding Meaning When Facing a Personal Crisis
Family Influences on the Meaning of Life
Cultural Influences on the Meaning of Life
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 9: Creating a Realistic Self-Care Plan
How Change Happens
Creating an Action Plan for Self-Care
Effective Planning for Self-Care
The Challenge of Maintaining Your Self-Care Plan
Consistency in Implementing Your Self-Care Plan
Our Reflections on Writing and Revising
Counselor Self-Care
Key Messages in the Book
References
Technical Support
End User License Agreement
Guide
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
About the Guest Contributors
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
References
Counselor Education in the 21st Century
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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Second Edition
Counselor Self-Care
Gerald CoreyMichelle MuratoriJude T. Austin IIJulius A. Austin
American Counseling Association2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314www.counseling.org
Copyright © 2024 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
American Counseling Association2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314
Publisher Carolyn C. Baker
Digital and Print Development Editor Nancy Driver
Senior Production Manager Bonny E. Gaston
Copy Editor Kay Mikel
Cover and text design by Bonny E. Gaston.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Corey, Gerald, author. | American Counseling Association.Title: Counselor self-care / Gerald Corey, Michelle Muratori, Jude T. Austin II, and Julius A. Austin.Description: Second edition. | Alexandria, VA : American Counseling Association, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references. | Identifiers: LCCN 2023009273 | ISBN 9781556204197 (paperback)Subjects: LCSH: Counseling psychologists—Mental health. | Counseling psychologists—Job stress. | Counselors—Mental health. | Counselors—Job stress.Classification: LCC BF636.64 .C67 2024 | DDC 158.3023—dc23/eng20230419LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023009273
Dedication
To my grandchildren, Kyla, Keegan, and Corey, who remind me to be in the moment.
—Gerald Corey
To the memory of my father, Edmund Muratori, and in gratitude to my mother, Vera Muratori.
—Michelle Muratori
To our parents, Jude Sr. and Lorraine Austin, for their love, patience, and sacrifice.
—Jude and Julius Austin
Preface
Self-care for counselors and therapists has been a salient topic in the mental health professions for many years. However, in 2018 when the first edition of Counselor Self-Care was published, we thought a book that prioritized self-care and emphasized its importance was long overdue. This impression was validated when we presented on this topic at professional conferences and spoke with many attendees who were eager to share their own challenges with self-care. Little did we know then that all of our lives were about to be disrupted in significant ways.
The COVID-19 pandemic, undue police violence, and threats to democracy have challenged society in recent years. These disturbing trends and stressors have produced profound changes and new challenges for everyone in the helping professions. The pandemic caused counselors to shift their work with clients to online venues, interrupting a long tradition of in-person counseling sessions. It also resulted in teaching and supervision transitioning to online formats. The demand for mental health services skyrocketed as people experienced social isolation, anxiety, and depression, and helping professionals have been tested in unprecedented ways, sometimes beyond their limits. In this environment, it is imperative that we sustain and strengthen our self-care practices. We hope this second edition of Counselor Self-Care will assist you in engaging in self-reflection regarding your own self-care successes and challenges and motivate you to prioritize your self-care needs.
The four of us continue to have a keen interest in the importance of self-care for counselors. We are convinced of the motivational value in presenting these ideas to students and professionals through the personal narratives in this book, and we encourage you to take an honest look at how you are caring for yourself and providing care for the clients you serve. We offer diverse perspectives on self-care with the objective of encouraging counselors and counselor trainees to evaluate their present level of self-care and consider specific changes they want to make in attending to all aspects of wellness in their personal life. We four are involved in professional work in different settings and are at different stages in our careers. Individually and collectively, we strive to offer a balance of challenge and support as you consider ways to enhance your personal and professional life through self-care.
This book does not present an exhaustive review of the empirical and scholarly literature on self-care. Instead we invite you to take a personal self-care journey with us. We have set the tone by revealing our own self-care journeys, and you will hear our voices in every chapter. We also invited 39 guest contributors—from new professionals and graduate students to seasoned professionals—to share their experiences and thoughts about various aspects of self-care, including what challenges them the most. The guest contributors from the first edition were invited to update their essays, and seven new contributors were added in this second edition. We focus on relevant themes in self-care that stimulate thoughtful reflection and encourage discussion of practical and useful ideas. The ideas are presented in a conversational and personal way, and we continually asked ourselves how we could inspire you to want to take positive actions, building on the resources you already possess and acquiring new self-care practices that will work for you in all aspects of your life.
We are all unique individuals and have had varied life experiences, so there isn’t one optimal formula for self-care. With this in mind, we invite you to live vicariously through our experiences and those of our contributors as we examine our struggles and triumphs with self-care. Some of these stories and ideas may strike a chord in you, lead to new insights, and inspire your growth (or determination to change). The personal narratives included here may evoke a range of reactions— empathy, sadness, laughter, anger, surprise—all emotions you are likely to encounter on a personal journey. We hope you enjoy this second edition of Counselor Self-Care as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you.
This book can be used as a supplement in a wide range of courses in the counseling field and related helping professions. Counselor Self-Care (Second Edition) is an ideal supplementary resource for both master’s and doctoral programs in counseling. It has been intentionally written to be a practical and personal book, relevant not only for graduate students but for professionals at all phases of their career. New professionals and seasoned professionals alike must develop self-care practices that will enable them to carry out their professional roles effectively.
New to the Second Edition
Seven new guest contributors provide essays on a variety of topics, including self-care practices for healing from grief, self-care for those who provide grief counseling, staying committed to practicing self-care, global self-care practices, permission to be yourself, creating balance among chaos, making self-care nonnegotiable, reflecting on midcareer issues, and self-care planning.
Significant changes in the delivery of mental health services occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we discuss this shift in the delivery of mental health services, along with the increased demand for services, and how these changes have contributed to empathy fatigue and counselor burnout.
Increased attention has been given to self-care themes in counselor education, especially in the transition from in-person classes to teaching virtually.
Developing self-care strategies to cope with the stressors around COVID-19 is a new topic, and every chapter has some commentary on the special challenges to self-care in a postpandemic era.
More than 50 new references have been cited that address current issues in each chapter.
All four coauthors have updated their personal experiences pertaining to various aspects of self-care. We speak to students in a personal and conversational way, and students will hear our voices throughout the book.
This revised edition has underscored the link between self-care and competence. Making a commitment to self-care and wellness is a pathway to competent professional practice.
Considerable attention has been given to meeting the challenges of developing resilience in the face of increased sources of personal and professional stressors.
Overview of the Book
Chapter 1: Taking Care of Yourself offers a rationale for adopting self-care practices as a requisite for competent professional practice. Self-care as an ethical mandate is emphasized, as is taking active steps to acquire and maintain wellness in all aspects of living. The concept of wellness is presented as a lifelong journey that has implications both personally and professionally, and therapeutic presence is discussed with a focus on wellness. A key message of this chapter is how caring for yourself is a must if you are taking care of others. Empathy fatigue and counselor burnout, managing empathy fatigue, preventing burnout, and happiness as a foundation of self-care are highlighted. Guest contributors present a range of narratives on topics such as reflections on wellness, managing empathy fatigue, finding happiness, and a psychiatrist’s therapeutic presence.
Chapter 2: Seasons of a Career illustrates how and why self-care is essential at all the stages of one’s professional career: early career, midcareer, and late career. In this chapter, each coauthor describes key experiences and lessons learned at different career stages, and guest contributors share their experiences with self-care during their early career, midcareer, and late career.
Chapter 3: Self-Care in Graduate School is written largely from the perspectives of Julius Austin and Jude Austin, who discuss their experiences in their master’s and doctoral programs and what they learned from their journeys about self-care and becoming counseling professionals. Guest contributors also share their experiences during their graduate programs. Topics include committing to self-care, setting boundaries, coping with anxiety, reflecting on motivations for becoming a counselor, maintaining self-worth, and practicing self-care during the dissertation process.
Chapter 4: Personal and Professional Stressors addresses how counselors and counselor educators have been affected by and have navigated the personal and professional stressors they have experienced. Guest contributors illustrate ways they deal with stressors and share their perspectives on wellness and grief, healing from grief, self-care for grief helpers, and taking time to smell the roses.
Chapter 5: Strategies for Managing Stress presents a wide variety of routes to stress management: meditation, mindfulness, relaxation, yoga, Pilates, tai chi, experiencing nature, sound nutrition, exercise, recreation, religion and spirituality, and service to others. This chapter is full of ideas for self-care from a holistic perspective. There is no one right way to practice self-care; many different strategies can be used to deal effectively with stress and to achieve wellness. Topics by guest contributors include keeping well with global self-care practices, meditation as a route to self-care, and cognitive behavioral strategies in managing stress.
Chapter 6: Establishing Personal and Professional Boundaries focuses on our successful and unsuccessful experiences setting boundaries at home and at work. Creating healthy work– life boundaries is explored, and our guest contributors share their ideas on establishing good boundaries, both personally and professionally.
Chapter 7: Relationships With Self and Others focuses on self-compassion, embracing the self, finding ways to nourish oneself through solitude and connections with others, developing forgiveness for self and others, taking time to form meaningful relationships, and mentorship. The section on mentoring has been expanded, and guest contributor topics include research on self-compassion, men’s groups as a path to self-care, and self-care for mentors.
Chapter 8: Finding Meaning in Life highlights the relationship between meaning in life and self-care. The existential approach is explored as a way to find meaning in life, and qualitative studies with undergraduate and graduate students are presented. Guest contributors describe ways they create meaning for themselves and how this is connected to self-care.
Chapter 9: Creating a Realistic Self-Care Plan highlights the importance of designing a realistic action plan to enhance your self-care practices. The emphasis is on making an honest evaluation of your self-care and then deciding how you can make key changes in living. Guest contributors describe their personal strategies for designing and implementing self-care action plans.
Acknowledgments
Counselor Self-Care is the result of a team effort. It is a collaboration between four coauthors and our guest contributors who have brought their influence to the development of this book. We appreciate the work of Marianne Schneider Corey, who was a reviewer and consultant for us at various stages of development of the first edition of this book. We are grateful for the involvement of Carolyn Baker, the publisher at the American Counseling Association. Carolyn encouraged us along the way and contributed her expertise by reviewing the entire manuscript, providing insightful comments and suggestions, and offering support and guidance throughout the evolution of this project. A special note of thanks to the manuscript editor, Kay Mikel, who made sure the presentation was clear, practical, personal, and effective. Our gratitude goes to the 39 guest contributors for their inspiring and honest personal stories about their experiences with self-care. You can learn more about them in the About the Guest Contributors section. We also acknowledge readers who have embraced the first edition of this book. These readers have encouraged us at our conference presentations and guest lectures on this topic. Many of the ideas and concepts discussed in this second edition were sparked by conversations with readers and conference attendees who share a passion for self-care.
About the Authors
Gerald “Jerry” Corey, EdD, ABPP, is professor emeritus of human services and counseling at California State University at Fullerton and is a distinguished visiting professor of counseling at the University of Holy Cross in New Orleans, where each semester he teaches intensive courses in counseling theories, group counseling, and ethics. He received his doctorate in counseling from the University of Southern California in 1967. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1992 from the National Louis University. He is a Diplomate in Counseling Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology; a licensed psychologist; and a National Certified Counselor. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 17, Counseling Psychology; and Division 49, Group Psychotherapy), a Fellow of the American Counseling Association, and a Fellow of the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW). He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Mental Health Counselors Association in 2011 and received the Eminent Career Award from ASGW in 2001. Jerry was the recipient of the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award from California State University, Fullerton, in 1991. He received the Thomas Hohenshil National Publications Award at the American Counseling Association’s Virtual Conference in 2021. He is the author or coauthor of 16 textbooks in counseling currently in print, along with more than 70 journal articles and book chapters. Several of his books have been translated into other languages. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy has been translated into Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Turkish, Korean, and Chinese. Theory and Practice of Group Counseling has been translated into Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian. Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions has been translated into Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. With his colleagues, Jerry has conducted workshops in the United States, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Scotland, Mexico, Canada, China, and Korea with a special focus on training in group counseling.
The following six books are published by the American Counseling Association:
Clinical Supervision in the Helping Professions: A Practical Guide
, Third Edition (2021, with Robert Haynes, Patrice Moulton, and Michelle Muratori)
Personal Reflections on Counseling
(2020)
The Art of Integrative Counseling
, Fourth Edition (2019)
ACA Ethical Standards Casebook,
Seventh Edition (2015, with Barbara Herlihy)
Boundary Issues in Counseling: Multiple Roles and Relationships,
Third Edition (2015, with Barbara Herlihy)
Creating Your Professional Path: Lessons From My Journey
(2010)
The following publications by Gerald Corey are with Cengage Learning:
Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy
, Eleventh Edition (and
Student Manual
) (2024)
Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions
, Eleventh Edition (2024, with Marianne Schneider Corey and Cindy Corey)
Theory and Practice of Group Counseling
, Tenth Edition (and
Student Manual
) (2023)
Becoming a Helper
, Eighth Edition (2021, with Marianne Schneider Corey)
Groups: Process and Practice
, Tenth Edition (2018, with Marianne Schneider Corey and Cindy Corey)
I Never Knew I Had a Choice
, Eleventh Edition (2018, with Marianne Schneider Corey and Michelle Muratori)
Group Techniques
, Fourth Edition (2015, with Marianne Schneider Corey, Patrick Callanan, and J. Michael Russell)
Case Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy
, Eighth Edition (2013)
Michelle Muratori, PhD, recently left the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (JHU-CTY) after working there for 20 years. She served as the assistant director for student support and was also an adviser for the CTY Scholars program, a college readiness program for high-ability precollege students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and a senior counselor for SET, a program that served exceptionally able middle school and high school students. Michelle earned her MA in counseling psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and her PhD in counselor education from the University of Iowa, where she developed her research and clinical interests in gifted education. Her graduate research on the academic, social, and emotional adjustment of young college entrants earned her recognition from the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association, the National Association for Gifted Children, and the Mensa Education and Research Foundation and Mensa International, Ltd. At the University of Iowa, Michelle also earned the Howard R. Jones Achievement Award, the Albert Hood Promising Scholar Award, and the First in the Nation in Education (FINE) Scholar Award.
Since 2005, Michelle has been a faculty associate in the Johns Hopkins School of Education in the Master of Science in Counseling program. Passionate about training counselors, she plans to transition to full-time teaching as a counselor educator. In 2014, she was honored with the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award. Michelle regularly presents at national conferences in counseling and gifted education. In addition to the American Counseling Association, she is a member of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the Association for Specialists in Group Work, the Maryland Counseling Association, and the National Association for Gifted Children.
Michelle has authored or coauthored the following books:
Clinical Supervision in the Helping Professions
, Third Edition (with Gerald Corey, Robert Haynes, and Patrice Moulton), American Counseling Association, 2021
Coping Skills for a Stressful World: A Workbook for Counselors and Clients
(with Robert Haynes), American Counseling Association, 2020
I Never Knew I Had a Choice
, Eleventh Edition (with Gerald Corey and Marianne Schneider Corey), Cengage Learning, 2018
Early Entrance to College: A Guide to Success
, Prufrock Press, 2007
Michelle has also contributed articles to a variety of publications in the counseling and gifted education fields.
Jude T. Austin II, PhD, LPC-S, LMFT, NCC, CCMHC, is an assistant professor in the Master of Arts in Counseling program at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and serves as the program’s clinical mental health counseling track coordinator. He is also in private practice in Belton, Texas, working with individuals, couples, families, and groups. His re search focuses on counselor education pedagogy, specifically finding ways to help counseling students develop therapeutic presence in session. He has served as a keynote speaker, presenter, and trainer for local, regional, and national conferences. He was also a 2021 American Counseling Association Virtual Conference keynote speaker. He is the coauthor of Surviving and Thriving in Your Counseling Program (2020) and Doing Counseling: Developing Your Clinical Skills and Style (2023), both published by the American Counseling Association, and The Counselor Educator’s Guide: Practical In-Class Strategies and Activities (2021), published by Springer. He has also contributed articles to a variety of publications in the counseling field.
Julius A. Austin, PhD, LPC, NCC, is an assistant professor in the counseling program at Grand Canyon University and is in private practice in Lafayette, Louisiana, working with individuals, couples, families, and groups. He has served as a keynote speaker, presenter, and trainer for local, regional, and national conferences. He was also a 2021 American Counsel ing Association Virtual Conference keynote speaker. He is the coauthor of Surviving and Thriving in Your Counseling Program (2020) and Doing Counseling: Developing Your Clinical Skills and Style (2023), both published by the American Counseling Association, and The Counselor Educator’s Guide: Practical In-Class Strategies and Activities (2021), published by Springer. He has also contributed articles to a variety of publications in the counseling field.
About the Guest Contributors
Our guest contributors have added immense vitality and meaning to this book, providing a diversity of thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. The contributors include graduate students in counseling (both master’s and doctoral level), counselor educators, licensed professional counselors, social workers, clinical and counseling psychologists, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, rehabilitation counselors, and mental health practitioners. We greatly appreciate their honesty, courage, and wisdom in sharing their experiences.
Randy Alle-Corliss, MSW, LCSW, was a clinical social worker at Kaiser Permanente for 26 years. He also taught part-time for about 30 years at California State University, Fullerton, in the Human Services Department, focusing on counseling theories and fieldwork courses. He retired in 2020 and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Jasmine T. Austin, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University.
Kent Becker, EdD, LMFT, LPC, serves as dean of the College of Social Sciences at Saybrook University.
Fred Bemak, EdD, is a professor emeritus in the counseling and development program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Jamie Bludworth, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, director at the Counselor Training Center, and clinical assistant professor, Counseling and Counseling Psychology Department, at Arizona State University.
Leah Brew, PhD, LPCC, NCC, is professor and chair of the Counseling Department at California State University, Fullerton.
Angela Bulls, MA, LPC-S, is a practicing supervisor and clinical supervisor in the Community Life Center at the Cru Community Clinic in Belton, Texas.
Nancy Chae, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling & Marital and Family Therapy in the School of Leadership and Educational Sciences at the University of San Diego.
Angela D. Coker, PhD, LPCC, NCC, is an associate professor of women’s studies in the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University, president (2022–2023) of the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD), and a practicing LPCC in California.
Amanda Connell, MS, LMFT, is in private practice and teaches part-time in Human Services at California State University, Fullerton.
Sherry Cormier, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, certified bereavement trauma specialist, and author of Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness After Loss and Grief (2018), published by Rowman & Littlefield; coauthor of Interviewing and Change Strategies for Helpers (2017), published by Cengage Learning; and author of Counseling Strategies and Interventions for Professional Helpers (2014), published by Pearson.
Norma L. Day-Vines, PhD, is the associate dean for diversity and faculty development in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. She also maintains a faculty appointment as professor of counseling and human development.
Omar De La Vega, MS, LMFT, APCC, is the lead clinician for the Wellness Center at the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Debbie Joffe Ellis, MDAM, is a licensed psychologist and mental health counselor, an adjunct professor at Columbia University in the Department of Clinical and Counseling Psychology, a published author, and a global presenter on rational emotive behavior therapy.
Matt Englar-Carlson, PhD, is a professor of counseling and a codirector of the Center for Boys and Men at California State University, Fullerton.
Andy Felton, PhD, LPC, is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Stout.
Sandi Fulcher, MS, LMFT, is a certified practitioner of yoga and Pilates. She is in private practice doing online psychotherapy in Newbury Park, California.
Robert Haynes, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who retired after 25 years as training director of the Clinical Psychology Internship program at Atascadero State Hospital in California.
Marja Humphrey, PhD, NCC, LGPC, is an assistant professor in the school counseling program in Bowie State University’s Department of Counseling.
Thomas Jackson, MD, is a psychiatrist who works with a variety of patients with a wide range of problems in Palm Desert, California.
W. Brad Johnson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a professor in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the U.S. Naval Academy and is a faculty associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University.
Kellie Kirksey, PhD, is a licensed clinical counselor, a certified rehabilitation counselor, a holistic wellness consultant, and an approved clinical supervisor. She has practiced and taught in the counseling field for more than 25 years and has focused her work in the areas of multicultural counseling, social justice, integrative counseling, and wellness.
Nicholas Lazzareschi, MS, PCC, LMFT, is a doctoral student in the Department of Counseling and Development at the University of North Texas.
Crissa S. Markow, MSW, LMSW, is a licensed master of social work who worked for two local, privately owned hospice agencies in Reno, Nevada.
Ed Neukrug, EdD, is a Batten Endowed Chair of Counseling at Old Dominion University, the chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Services, a Fellow of the American Counseling Association, and an author of several books in counseling and human services.
Mikayla L. Norton, MS, is a current doctoral student at the University of Holy Cross and a teaching assistant in the counselor education program.
Ariadne Patsiopoulos, MA, is a registered clinical counselor in Victoria, British Columbia, offering private sessions and a variety of workshops and groups to clients.
Petra Schoning, MA, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a board certified master personal and executive coach.
Mark A. Stebnicki, PhD, LCMHC, DCMHS, CRC, is professor emeritus and former developer and coordinator of the Military and Trauma Counseling Certificate program at East Carolina University.
Naomi Tapia, MS, is an associate marriage and family therapist working in a private practice that specializes in working with teenagers and adults struggling with eating disorders.
Patricia A. Thomas, PhD, LPC-S, is an associate professor in the counseling program at the University of Holy Cross in New Orleans.
Judy Van Der Wende, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Simi Valley, California.
Abigail Van Patten-Freeman, MA, LMHC, NCC, is a doctoral student and graduate assistant in the counselor education and supervision program at the University of Iowa.
Diana Ward, PhD, formerly an administrator at Loyola University New Orleans, is a second-year graduate student in the counseling program at the University of Holy Cross, New Orleans. She is a teaching assistant and is an intern at the Thomas E. Chambers Counseling and Training Center.
Brandon Wildish, MS, received a master’s degree in counseling at California State University, Fullerton, and is a professional musician.
Gina Wisinski, MA, LPC-Associate, is the owner and founder of Growing Within Therapy, a counseling clinic providing mental health services in Temple, Texas.
Susannah M. Wood, PhD, is a professor of school counseling in the Department of Counselor Education in the University of Iowa’s College of Education.
Robert E. Wubbolding, EdD, is the director of the Center for Reality Therapy in Cincinnati, professor emeritus of counseling at Xavier University, and author of several books on reality therapy.
Mark E. Young, PhD, is professor emeritus of counselor education at the University of Central Florida and a Fellow of the American Counseling Association. He is the author of five textbooks, and he continues to write, meditate, and conduct research on meditation.
Chapter 1Taking Care of Yourself
It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.
—Mandy Hale
Whether you are a student in the helping professions or a seasoned mental health practitioner, taking care of yourself is critical to your professional success. Incorporating self-care in our lives is a prerequisite to being competent mental health practitioners. Although we are indoctrinated with this advice early in our professional training, many of us say we simply do not have time to take care of ourselves. This begs the question, “Can we afford not to take care of our-selves?” To successfully meet the demands of our professional work in a volatile world facing unprecedented challenges and changes on many fronts, it is essential that we attend to our physical, psychological, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs.
The recent coronavirus pandemic changed our relationship to counseling as a profession and has influenced how we do our work. Although counselors do not manage medical emergencies, seemingly overnight we became first responders for clients and communities burdened with urgent new psychological issues. Clinics rushed to train staff on telecounseling procedures, new protocols were drafted, community clinics spent savings on computer hardware and software, private practices went virtual and operated from the homes of clinicians, counselor training programs rushed to secure internship sites and to update syllabi, and supervisors made tough ethical calls for supervisees needing hours and clients needing support. Beyond the practical, procedural, and technical efforts, counselors listened to clients experiencing unique pressures, marriages straining with effort, and families attempting to implement new lifestyle options. We heard their anger, fear, exhaustion, hope, and loss as the coronavirus turned lives upside down.
Counseling professionals are compassionate people who strive to help others; however, we cannot provide nourishment to others if we are not nourishing ourselves. Similar to the flight attendant’s instructions to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, if we don’t heed this requirement, we will run out of “oxygen” and not be able to help anyone else. Ideally, our self-care should mirror the care we provide to others, but too often we fail to lean in and treat ourselves with the same level of care. Having knowledge about self-care is important—putting what we know into action can be challenging.
When teaching an introductory counseling course several years ago, I (Michelle) assigned a self-care project to underscore the importance of practicing good self-care from the very beginning of counselor training. I hoped my students would formulate individual self-care goals that they were invested in pursuing and that they would be inspired to continue these practices after the semester ended. I believed I was teaching my first-year graduate students something valuable, but they taught me something unexpected and fascinating: this “self-care project” was more stressful for many of my students than any of their other assignments! A number of students struggled to identify or formulate an achievable self-care goal, and the scope of their ideas varied widely. Some plans seemed too ambitious: one student aspired to challenge himself to climb a mountain during the semester. Others seemed stunningly lacking in ambition: one student wanted to exercise one minute a day! I intended for this assignment to be enjoyable, but what I recall most is that it proved to be burdensome for a number of students. Based on this experience and others, including my own resistance to certain forms of self-care, I wondered, “Why is it so hard for us as helpers to take care of our ‘self’ when we are so passionate about helping others take better care of themselves?” As we worked on the first edition of Counselor Self-Care, the four of us often found ourselves reflecting on this question.
Devastating developments and trends have emerged since the first edition of this book. The COVID-19 pandemic has dis rupted economies around the world and stalled the educational progress of students of all ages, and threats to democracy have rocked our own society to its core. These developments have challenged the well-being of virtually everyone. As Boring-Bray (2021) noted, “It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on our mental health. Since the start of quarantine in 2020, rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, grief, and beyond have skyrocketed.” Counselors are not immune to mental health issues, and many counselors have seen their own personal struggles reflected in their clients’ experiences. When we consider the professional hazards involved in caring for others in the postpandemic era, counselor self-care becomes especially important (Rokach & Boulazreg, 2022). In this second edition, we provide support and offer some new ideas for you to consider as you engage in introspection regarding your own self-care successes and challenges. It is imperative that we strengthen our self-care practices so we can meet these challenges.
Relevant literature is cited throughout the book, but by design we have taken a more personal approach to support you in your own self-care journey. We showcase a collection of experiences and highlight literature that can help you develop a model and plan for self-care that works best for you. We discuss self-care for helping professionals from many different perspectives in the hope of inspiring you to improve your commitment to and practice of self-care. Each chapter is filled with firsthand accounts of the many ways counselors and counselor trainees (sometimes successfully and sometimes less so) take care of themselves.
Take a few minutes right now to think about the things in your life that threaten your wellness and your effectiveness as a counselor or as a graduate student. Identify what you need in this moment to feel healthy, both personally and professionally. As you read, be mindful of how the stories in each chapter influence your feelings, your thoughts, and your behaviors related to self-care.
This chapter is devoted to some key topics at the heart of counselor self-care—the importance of adopting a wellness perspective and its influence on maintaining therapeutic presence, wellness and self-care as buffers against empathy fatigue, and the pursuit of happiness as a foundation for self-care. This discussion provides the foundation for the chapters that follow. First, however, we turn our attention to the fundamental principle that self-care is not a frivolous indulgence; it is, in fact, our ethical responsibility. We must take care of ourselves so we are well equipped to put the metaphorical oxygen mask on our clients and students who need our assistance and who are depending on us to be well for them.
Self-Care as an Ethical Mandate
Self-care is the collection of positive actions that promote wellness and effective coping. Stated broadly, “self-care includes routine positive practices and mindful attention to one’s physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual selves in the context of one’s personal and professional lives” (Wise & Barnett, 2016, p. 210). Self-care can be both an approach to prevention and an intervention for counselors to attend to their physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being (American Counseling Association, 2014; Stebnicki, 2008). Some researchers have focused on the negative effects of self-care omission and found that ignoring self-care can lead to impairment, empathy fatigue, and compassion fatigue (Stebnicki, 2008). Perceived negative outcomes of not attending to self-care may not be sufficient to motivate self-care behaviors because the incentive is avoidance rather than wellness (Plath & Fickling, 2022). If we neglect taking care of ourselves, our professional work will suffer. If we are drained and depleted, we will not have much to give to those who need our time and our presence. We must be willing to take steps to protect our effective functioning if we are to provide our clients with the competent services they deserve (Wise & Barnett, 2016). Norcross and VandenBos (2018) emphasize the fundamental basis underlying the need for counselor self-care: “Self-care is not a narcissistic luxury to be fulfilled as time permits; it is a human requisite, a clinical necessity, and an ethical imperative” (p. 15).
Amanda Connell, a counseling intern, took to heart the advice she received in graduate school about viewing self-care as an ethical mandate. Although Amanda has multiple demands on her personal and professional life, she is finding a way to make time to care for herself.
A Lifelong Struggle for Self-Care
Amanda Connell, MS
Despite my clear understanding of the importance of self-care, achieving my goals in this area remains a lifelong struggle. My life circumstances and schedule create conflict in achieving the level of self-care that I would prefer to experience. The majority of my time is spent being a caregiver for my daughter, who is severely disabled. My work also includes being a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice and teaching part-time in Human Services at California State University, Fullerton.
Although finding sufficient time is difficult, I have incorporated self-care into my life. My absolute favorite form of self-care is taking vacations. I generally take two vacations each year, and occasionally I add a third vacation when I find myself particularly in need. Long ago I figured out that in my true nature I am an introvert; that means I need time alone to “recharge my batteries.” A large part of my life is spent in serving others, so when I take vacations, I go alone. It is the best and most freeing feeling to have a whole week to do what I want to do when I want to do it. When I return from a trip, I am a more effective mother, counselor, and teacher. Without these vacations, burnout and empathy fatigue would be my likely companions.
A newer self-care strategy for me is saying “no” more frequently. Also, I ask myself if the new commitments are sustainable. I have been blessed in my life with offers for many wonderful professional opportunities. It has been challenging for me to turn down these opportunities because I really want to do these things and would thoroughly enjoy them. The problem is that there are only so many hours in a day, and when I stretch myself too thin, my health and overall well-being suffer. My schedule is demanding, but it works for me because I have found and pursued my passions in life. All that I do is meaningful and fulfilling for me, and as a chronic overachiever, saying “no” takes work. I noticed that I had been making commitments in the mornings when I feel energetic. My strategy today is to delay commitment decisions (even smaller social commitments) until the evening hours when I am most tired. It is easier to say “no” when my energy is already at a low point in the day.
Another extremely helpful aspect of self-care has been engaging in my own therapy and actively working toward self-actualization. Words I live by are these: “Just because I can do something does not mean I should do it.” I have learned to be emotionally kind to myself, and I strive to live a life of congruence and self-awareness. Many of the methods I suggest to my clients are incorporated in my own life, such as replacing negative self-talk with positive affirmations, regularly engaging in meditation and relaxation exercises, giving myself gentle reminders to return to my self-care plan as needed, and being vigilant about eliminating self-judgment as it arises. Mindfulness has taught me to live consciously in the present moment. Laughter, joy, appreciation, and an innate trust that life will work out are all daily ingredients of my self-care plan.
Being a caregiver often includes a fair amount of sleep deprivation and interrupted sleep. Therefore, a major aspect of my self-care is to schedule and take naps regularly, which helps tremendously. A further area of self-care I enjoy is having a wonderful support system that includes family, friends, colleagues, and mentors. The people in these groups enrich my life and soul in countless ways, and I am grateful.
Engaging in regular self-care is enormously beneficial for me personally, and it is also a vital component of my effectiveness as a counselor and an instructor. As noted, vacations, meditation, and sleep contribute mightily to my mental acuity, ability to connect with clients in the here and now, patience, and intuitive abilities. My support system helps me to be a more balanced professional. Consulting frequently with colleagues and mentors leads to new ideas and interventions and reduces feelings of isolation that sometimes occur for therapists in private practice. Saying “no” and limiting commitments allows me to have the energy to be fully present for my clients and students. Furthermore, my personal therapy contributes to my professional effectiveness by illuminating countertransference issues and concurrently expanding my therapeutic characteristics, such as empathy, self-awareness, and genuineness. Developing and maintaining a solid self-care plan brings myriad benefits. I believe it plays an integral role in every facet of being an effective helper.
Each of these contributed stories is unique, and we encourage you to take this opportunity to peek through the keyhole into the self-care experiences of other professionals. Amanda’s narrative exemplifies the approach our contributors have chosen in describing their experiences and the key messages they hoped to convey. We anticipate that you may experience a range of thoughts and emotions as you read the personal experiences of our contributors. If you are a counselor educator, you may feel some discomfort reading students’ stories; their stories may cause you to wonder whether you ever contributed to the poor self-care of your students. If you are a clinician, you may identify with other clinicians’ struggles and be willing to include some of their self-care strategies in your life. If you are a student, clinician, or faculty member of color and have been subjected to racial microaggressions or other blatant forms of oppression, some stories may resonate with your experience and embolden you to advocate for yourself. It is unlikely that you will connect personally with every piece, but we hope you read with an open mind, an open heart, and empathy.
Wellness and Self-Care
Wellness is an individual’s holistic approach to health over the life span, and self-care represents counselors’ specific attempts to improve their own health to better meet the many challenges of being an effective clinician and maintaining clinical effectiveness over time. If we are not engaged in self-care practices, eventually we will not have the energy or endurance required to be present with our clients. To acquire and maintain stamina, we need to incorporate a wellness perspective in our daily living. Although rewarding, following this path is often challenging. Wellness encompasses more than the absence of illness. It is the result of a conscious commitment to care for ourselves on all human dimensions. This is not a one-time decision. Rather, it is a process of making a series of decisions that lead to zest, peace, vitality, and happiness in our whole being. Hays (2014) contends that creating well-being and staying on a healthy path“do not depend so much on the huge decisions we obsess over, but rather on the daily little decisions and actions that shape who we become” (p. 179).
Embracing wellness involves identifying our meaningful personal goals, discovering any barriers that might get in the way of reaching our goals, creating an action plan, and then committing to implementing our plan in everyday life. Achieving wellness requires effort, and the results are often slow. Rather than being linear, this process is iterative: we plan, practice, revisit the plan, practice, and so on. Sometimes we may envision wellness as an ever-ascending arc of health that results in a long and happy life. At other times, we may experience setbacks. Often we sit stagnant for a bit before moving forward. Being well is as much about the journey as it is about achieving this lifelong goal.
Self-care is a primary responsibility for individuals in care-giving roles because it helps prevent burnout and compassion fatigue (American Counseling Association, 2014; Plath & Fickling, 2022). An overarching goal for counselors is to assist people in achieving and maintaining a state of wellness. Achieving this goal requires clients to take action to prevent illness and to create a more balanced and fulfilling way of living.
Perhaps it is no wonder that self-care and wellness are integrally related. Dr. Pat Thomas, now 78 years old, teaches counseling at the University of Holy Cross in New Orleans. Over her 47-year journey as a counselor and counselor educator, she has embraced the concepts of wellness and holism in her own self-care and made it a priority to encourage her students to pursue a path of self-care. Her reflections highlight the concept of life as a banquet.
Pat’s Wellness Reflections
Patricia A. Thomas, PhD
Life is a banquet and most of you fools are starving to death.
—Auntie Mame
I use this quote from Auntie Mame as a motto when I talk about wellness. I ask myself and others: Are we willing to “settle” for just not being hungry (physically, emotionally, and so forth), for not feeling ill, or do we want to partake in the banquet that life has to offer?
A lot has happened since I wrote my contribution to the first edition of this book in 2018, and among the most impactful has been the coronavirus pandemic and our “coping with COVID” self-care strategies. I’ve done many presentations since 2020 on wellness, self-care, and balance in our lives, and I’d like to share my updated perspective. I begin my presentations with this quote by Elizabeth Edwards, and I think it sets the tone for our self-care practices in a post-COVID world: “She stood in the storm, and when the wind didn’t blow her away, she adjusted her sails.” We have all stood in a variety of storms since March of 2020, and we have had to adjust our self-care practices as our lives have changed. We live in a “new normal.” How do you and I address self-care when our social interactions need to be adjusted to fit changing times?
Some of my story remains the same: my journey in the area of wellness began in the early 1980s when I chose to write my dissertation on the topic. Now it is 2023, and I am still as proud and enthused to be in the counseling profession as I ever have been. I entered the helping professions in 1975 and have served as a counselor in a large public school system for 25 years; I have counseled families at risk of becoming homeless; counseled students, faculty, and parents after Hurricane Katrina; and taught in counseling programs at several universities. Trying to take care of myself has been a challenge in all of these situations and especially in the midst of the pandemic and its aftermath. I believe we need to find things that become part of our lives for the long haul and also add new experiences as times, our bodies, and energy levels change. I would like to share with you some ways I have tried to maintain my self-care over the years as well as some more recent endeavors I have undertaken.
People and music have always grounded me and helped me keep things in perspective. For more than 25 years I have built into my life’s routine several activities that help me maintain my wellness. One is having weekly coffee or dinner with friends who are important in my life. Taking time to share the week’s events and provide support to each other has been invaluable. I combine being with important people and my love of music by going out at least once a week to do Cajun dancing. This French tradition (called a “fais do-do”) provides an opportunity to go to a venue where a live band plays dance music and a group of “regulars” (many of whom are now friends) meet to dance and share the week’s activities. Unfortunately, COVID restrictions put a halt to that, and now I am doing this about once a month. In addition, although I haven’t done it as much recently, for years I played guitar and ukulele and sang at a local coffeehouse. This gave me an opportunity to express my creative side.
An important part of my professional life for the last 15 years that has greatly contributed to my wellness has been international travel. I am fortunate to be a faculty member for several international institutes, and we bring students and practicing counselors to Italy and Ireland to compare how mental health services are approached in those countries and to see how they compare to service delivery in the United States. Meeting new people and experiencing cultures different from the one I live in daily not only expands my worldview but challenges me to assess how I look at the different dimensions of my life.
Over my long journey as a counselor and counselor educator, I have embraced the concepts of wellness and holism in my self-care and reinforced these concepts with my students. When I am struggling in some area of my life, the wellness approach reassures and reminds me that my struggle in that area does not define me. I can shift my focus to an area of strength, remind myself of my strength, and harness it to work through my struggles. I often assign myself “homework” to help me focus on becoming more aware and to grow toward greater wellness.
Dr. Pat Thomas encourages us to strive for wellness rather than settling for a condition of “not being ill.” After all, if we are not taking care of ourselves and are not well, it will be difficult to be therapeutically present in our work with others. It serves us well to look for areas of strength in our lives and to do what we can to build on these positive resources. As you reflect on the state of your own wellness, what grade would you give yourself?
Questions for Reflection
What are some of your greatest strengths?
To what extent do you use your strengths to shore up areas with which you struggle?
How might you incorporate homework assignments in your self-care plan that would draw on your strengths as you address any perceived or actual limitations or challenges?
To what extent are you satisfied with your present self-care practices?
Therapeutic Presence and Wellness
Psychiatrist Tom Jackson sees many patients each day who are depressed and anxious. His story describes avenues he pursues to remain vital and present with patients. On his days off, he is rejuvenated by long walks in nature in the mountain community where he lives. This communion with nature provides respite and helps him remain present for 10 hours of seeing patients each workday. Dr. Jackson also practices yoga daily and engages in mindfulness meditation. He is committed to a healthy, low carbohydrate diet, which results in a general sense of wellness. His commitment to maintaining his overall wellness enables him to enjoy his work and to feel a sense of satisfaction in helping others.
Therapeutic Presence in a Psychiatrist’s Work
Thomas Jackson, MD
I have been a psychiatrist for 40 years, and I still love my work. How is this possible? Burnout rates in my profession are estimated to be 27% to 57% at any given time, and suicide rates are 2 to 3 times higher than those of the general population. Here I share some reflections on how I have kept my spark.
My profession has changed a great deal since I first graduated. In my early years, in addition to prescribing medication, I was able to “do some therapy” with individuals and facilitated a variety of groups. How things have changed since I began my psychiatric career! Other than initial diagnostic evaluations, the 15-minute medication check is the rule. In fact, I typically see more than 30 patients a day, with insurance reimbursement rates largely dictating this kind of schedule. Occupational hazards include continu ous exposure to individuals who have personality disorders or who are anxious, depressed, suicidal, or psychotic, along with the hassles of managed care and laborious electronic medical records. It is no wonder so many psychiatrists end up feeling emotionally exhausted, personally disconnected, and simply overwhelmed. Despite these challenging realities, I really enjoy my work, and I can claim high success rates. A fair question to ask is, “How do I do this?”
Having a lot of experience and a deep knowledge about medication is necessary, but this alone is not sufficient to ensure success with patients. The results I achieve seem to suggest that “something else” is going on, which I believe has to do with “presence.” It is presence that opens the door to a therapeutic relationship. If I can be fully present, give patients my undivided attention, listen closely, and then respond to their greatest concerns, we have an opportunity to connect on a deep and potentially healing level, for both of us. It creates the space in which therapeutic “magic” can happen. Even in these very short encounters, patients often leave my office feeling that they have been heard and are cared about and feeling somewhat more hopeful about their future. When this happens, I may be inspired and strengthened for the ongoing challenges of the day ahead. But I have no illusions that I can provide even a small fraction of the psychotherapy that many of my patients need, so I am grateful for the team of therapists in my practice who are often a critical component of my patients’ treatment.
Remaining present for 10 hours of seeing patients is easier said than done and bears some further discussion. To begin with, I don’t work 5 days a week, which is important for my own mental health. I travel to the city and focus all my energy on my patients for 3 days. I then have 4 days for self-care, returning to my home in a mountain forest where nature helps to wash away the burdens of work and where the “love of my life” awaits me. I am indeed fortunate to have a great relationship with my wife, who makes sure that I take regular vacations and nurtures me.
