What Individual Counselors Can Do to Sustain Wellness

Venart, Elizabeth; Vassos, Sonya; Pitcher-Heft, Heather

doi:10.1002/j.2161-1939.2007.tb00025.x

Cited by 36 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In alignment with research by Venart et al, (2007) andYager andTovar-Blank (2007), students capable of recognizing their own needs, combined with the understanding of the importance of addressing impairments for the viability of the therapeutic relationship, may effectively self-advocate addressing particular issues. Unlike findings by Cooke, Bewick, Barkham, Bradley, and Audin (2006), where only 5% of psychologically vulnerable university students sought counseling, 64% of online counseling students participated in individual counseling, which may be accounted for by accuracy of self-perception in online counseling students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Wellness in Online Graduate Counselor Education Students

Merryman¹,

Martin²,

Martin³

2015

JCPS

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Wellness in Online Graduate Counselor Education Students

Merryman¹,

Martin²,

Martin³

2015

JCPS

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“…"Like any stress, with sufficient intensity, it can have a negative impact on the human immune system and the quality of life in general" (Figley, 2002(Figley, , p. 1437. Counselors can experience burnout and secondary trauma reactions if they fail to recognize the impact of their work on themselves (Lambie, 2006;Lawson, 2007;Lum, 2002;O'Halloran & Linton, 2000;Venart, Vassos, & Pitcher-Heft, 2007).…”

Section: Wellness For Counselors: Why and Howmentioning

confidence: 98%

Breathing Words Slowly: Creative Writing and Counselor Self-Care—The Writing Workout

Warren

Morgan

Morris

et al. 2010

WCMH

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Professional counselors work daily with compassion and connection, yet must also manage trauma and pain. Clients' stories of loneliness, fear, abuse, and anger frequently fill the landscape of a counselor's work. Counselors may experience burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma by failing to recognize and adequately address the negative emotions and thoughts they may unintentionally carry from their work. By prioritizing and attending to self-awareness and self-care, counselors maintain their clinical efficacy and personal well-being. This article presents creative writing as a valuable self-care technique, offers a writing structure for counselors to use, and includes two brief illustrations of creative writing that promote self-care.Spring comes with its flowers, autumn with the moon, summer with breezes, winter with snow; when useless things don't stick in the mind, that is your best season.

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“…When stress from one facet of life cause havoc in other areas, we can fall out of balance and move down the wellness continuum into the realms of distress and impairment. As new counsellors travel the path of helping, they should expect periods of rapids and white-water-after all, every counsellor fluctuates along the wellness-impairment 14 continuum day-to-day Venart et al, 2007). What is important is that new counsellors gain awareness of this process so that they can better track and understand how they are being affected by their work on personal and professional levels.…”

Section: Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a variety of definitions ofwellness presented in the literature. Some researchers differentiate between types of wellness including physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness (Venart, Vassos, Pitcher-Heft, 2007), whereas others view wellness more holistically. Roscoe (2009) conducted a review of the wellness literature and found that most defmitions and models share common themes: (a) wellness is holistic and is made up of factors that interact in a complex, integrated, and synergistic fashion.…”

Section: Wellnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this reason, the group format will be used to foster mindful selfcare and prevention. Peer support groups can offer many benefits to new counsellors including soothing stress reactions, promoting self-awareness, normalizing experiences, and providing a safe place for processing feelings and challenging situations (Cummins, Massey, & Jones, 2007;Venart et al , 2007). Several therapeutic factors have been identified that can lead to effective groups.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Helping ourselves: a mindfulness-based self-care group for novice counsellors

Robinson-Weaver¹

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The purpose of this project was to develop a self-care group for new counsellors. The first part of this project includes a literature review that explores foundation concepts including wellness, impairment, mindfulness, and self-compassion. The group outline is organized into two main parts. In the first part of the group, participants are asked to reflect on the experience of counselling. Topics covered include the wellness-impairment continuum, somatic empathy, and stress. Part two of the group focusses on wellness promotion and participants are asked to reflect upon concepts of mindfulness, self-compassion, and creative self-care. Throughout this group, new counsellors will participate in meditations, experiential activities, and discussions. The guiding principle of this group is that if new counsellors are taught tools to broaden their awareness, then they may be better able to recognise when and how they are being affected by helping and intervene with compassionate self-soothing and self-care practices. DedicationThis project is dedicated to all new helpers who understand that in order to help others we need to be able to help ourselves. Vl Part One: The Journey of the New CounsellorCounselling is a unique professional field that requires counsellors to use themselves as a tool in the therapeutic process. In order to be effective, counsellors constantly work to deepen their ability to empathically open themselves up to understanding the experiences of clients so that they can help them on their path of exploration, healing, and wellness. Helpers strive to manage their perspectives, feelings , and life stresses so that they can effectively hold present moment awareness and engage in the therapeutic process with clients. In reality, this is not an easy task and in order to learn how to effectively navigate this field, practitioners often need to deepen their commitment to understanding themselves, others, and the world.For students in counselling, the journey of becoming a counsellor can be both daunting and awe-inspiring. Speaking of my own experience, this period of development has been a time of intense growth and self-discovery, in which I have felt my awareness expanding. This awareness has broadened my self-understanding, and nurtured my appreciation for the complexity of human interactions, and human being, in general. Although I have learned many lessons, I can honestly say that developing deeper self-awareness has challenged me in many ways. The path to becoming a helper is not straight and wide-instead there are many bumps and hazards encountered along the way and this period can be associated with heightened stress, anxiety, and insecurities (Christopher & Maris, 2010; Skovholt, 2001; Theriault, Gazzola, & Richardson, 2009).Skovholt (200 1) describes many of the challenges faced by new counsellors on the road to becoming an experienced helper. The novice counsellor does not necessarily have an established helping identity, therefore, they are in essence, trekking with a crude map that c...

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What Individual Counselors Can Do to Sustain Wellness

Cited by 36 publications

References 25 publications

Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Wellness in Online Graduate Counselor Education Students

Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Wellness in Online Graduate Counselor Education Students

Breathing Words Slowly: Creative Writing and Counselor Self-Care—The Writing Workout

Helping ourselves: a mindfulness-based self-care group for novice counsellors

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