5 TPC Digest School counselors work closely with students and are often the first point of contact regarding traumatic experiences. It is generally understood that exposure to students’ pain and trauma may lead to burnout and secondary trauma in professional school counselors (PSCs). Burnout and secondary traumatic stress have been shown to negatively affect the professional functioning of PSCs and have a detrimental effect on both their own lives as well as that of their students. Therefore, we felt it imperative that we have a fuller understanding of what contributes to the burnout and secondary traumatic stress of PSCs. Several studies have examined structural factors that contribute to school counselor burnout, such as student caseload and number of duties that are not counseling-related. Few, if any, studies have examined personal factors within PSCs’ own personal history that may make them more vulnerable to burnout and secondary traumatic stress. In this study we examined the rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that PSCs may have encountered in their development. Adverse childhood experiences, a term coined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have been correlated with numerous mental and emotional struggles such as depression, anxiety, PTSD symptoms, and suicide. For this reason, ACEs have been considered one of the most significant public health crises of our time. Our goal in this study was to examine whether there is a relationship between ACEs of PSCs and their experience of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. This study is unique in that it surveyed 240 PSCs to discover their own rates of ACEs and how their ACEs may relate to their tendency toward burnout and secondary traumatic stress. We found that close to half of the PSCs in this study had personal histories of four or more ACEs, which is significantly higher than the general public and passes the threshold for significant risk for both mental and physical illness. Furthermore, the results of this study indicated that PSCs with higher ACEs scores were more likely to suffer from burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The results of this study do not suggest that the problem of burnout is solely or primarily a result of the personal history of PSCs. Furthermore, it should not draw attention away from the numerous systems-level factors that contribute to burnout, such as high caseloads, but can serve as an indicator of who may be more vulnerable to those systemic factors. School counselors may benefit from identifying their own ACEs and engaging in helpful forms of self-care such as personal therapy, self-advocacy, and seeking administrative support to lessen the emotional workload that contributes to burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Eric M. Brown, PhD, LPC, is an assistant professor at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine at Boston University. Melanie Burgess, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. Kristy L. Carlisle, PhD, is an assistant professor at Old Dominion University. Desmond Franklin Davenport, MS, is a doctoral student at the University of Memphis. Michelle W. Brasfield, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. Correspondence may be addressed to Eric M. Brown, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, 72 E. Concord St., Boston, MA 02118, ebrown1@bu.edu. Eric M. Brown, Melanie Burgess, Kristy L. Carlisle, Desmond Franklin Davenport, Michelle W. Brasfield Adverse Childhood Experiences of Professional School Counselors as Predictors of Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress 5 TPC Digest
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