DIGEST - Volume 9, Issue 4- FULL DIGEST

12 TPC Digest Bethany A. Lanier, Jamie S. Carney E very day, professional counselors are meeting face-to-face with clients who bring with them a plethora of experiences, many of them traumatic. As empathetic beings, counselors are continuously taking in and confidentially holding others’ traumatic stories. Whether the counselor works in a school setting or community mental health center, the likelihood that the counselor will not interact with a client experiencing trauma is slim. Empathic acceptance and increased vulnerability on the part of the counselor may increase the counselor’s likelihood of developing vicarious trauma (VT) symptoms. Understanding VT is essential for counselor educators and practicing counselors, and developing best practices to decrease the occurrence of VT is an important component that is needed in counselor preparation programs. The purpose of the current study was to gain an understanding of the relationship of VT symptoms and subthreshold post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among practicing counselors. Counselors who experience VT symptoms and subthreshold PTSD symptoms are at risk of causing harm to themselves, the client, and the workplace. Additionally, counselors who develop VT symptoms and subthreshold PTSD symptoms are at particular risk to leave the profession early. Participants for this study were from a national sample of practicing counselors recruited through counseling listservs. In developing implications for counselor educators, the researchers determined common contributing factors among practicing counselors that participants felt contributed to the development of VT symptoms (i.e., working primarily with adolescents and survivors of sexual assault/domestic violence). Implications were developed for counselor educators to determine how they best can prepare students to avoid VT symptoms and decrease subthreshold PTSD symptoms among practicing counselors post-degree. Bethany A. Lanier, NCC, is an assistant professor at the University of West Georgia. Jamie S. Carney is a professor at Auburn University. Correspondence can be addressed to Bethany Lanier, 1601 Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30116, blanier@westga.edu. Implications for Counselor Educators Practicing Counselors, Vicarious Trauma, and Subthreshold PTSD |