TPC-Journal-V2-Issue1

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 1 91 the client ” (Lawson & Venart, 2005, p. 3). In 2003, this council became proactive in addressing the issue of counselor wellness by creating a task force on counselor wellness and impairment. The task force seeks to educate counselors about impairment prevention, promote resources for prevention and treatment of impaired counselors and to advocate within ACA and its division to address the broader issue of counselor impairment. As a result, they have distributed information on risk factors, assessment, resources and wellness strategies. Thus, a wellness focus is essential for professional counselors to prevent impairment and provide effective counseling services to clients (Witmer & Young, 1996). Unfortunately, professional counselors encounter multiple factors that threaten their wellness (Lawson, 2007). For instance, counselors are at a particularly high risk for burnout due to the intense and psychologically close work they do with clients (Skovholt, 2001). Although there are many definitions of burnout, Pines and Maslach (1978) described it as “a condition of physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of a negative self-concept, negative job attitude, and loss of concern and feelings for clients” (p. 233). Additional consequences of burnout may include low energy and fatigue, cynicism towards clients, feelings of hopelessness and being late or absent from work (Lambie, 2006). When counselors fail to address burnout it can lead to impairment. Counselors also may experience occupational hazards such as compassion or empathy fatigue and vicarious traumatization (Figley, 2002; Lawson, 2007; Stebniki, 2007). Stebniki (2007) defined empathy fatigue as a state wherein counselors are exhausted by their duties because of their constant exposure to the suffering of others, which induces feelings of hopelessness and despair. Similarly, vicarious traumatization occurs when a counselor becomes emotionally impaired due to being exposed to an accumulation of traumatic stories from multiple therapy sessions (McCann & Perlman, 1990). Therefore, the actual nature of counselors’ work is a potential threat to their ability to be well. In addition, environmental factors in counselors’ work settings also may be detrimental to their wellness (Ducharme, Knudsen, & Roman, 2008; Knudsen, Ducharme, & Roman, 2006; Vredenburgh, Carlozzi, & Stein, 1999). In a survey that included 501 professional counselors, Lawson (2007) found that those working in community agencies experienced higher levels of burnout and compassion fatigue and vicarious traumatization than those working in private practice. Agency variables that are associated with burnout include: work overload, low remuneration, lack of control over services, unsupportive or unhealthy work peers and ineffective or punitive supervisors (Lloyd, King, & Chenoweth, 2002). For example, low remuneration is a specific concern in many Southeastern states. Lambie and Young (2007) offered the following example of a work environment in a specific agency: “an employee assistance program in this area requires its counselors to conduct sessions for 35 clients a week…the counselor in such an organization faces stresses and work hours similar to a first year lawyer in a large firm, without the mitigating effects of financial compensation” (p.101). Additional stressors stem from nonprofit agencies’ dependence on government and state funding sources to operate. Agency compliance with government and state policies to maintain funding often require administrations to focus on the “ bottom line, ” sometimes to the detriment of client services and employee wellness (Rupert & Morgan, 2005). Counselors who experience such stressors are at serious risk for burnout. Nevertheless, counselors are ethically expected to avoid burnout because it ultimately reduces the quality of services provided to clients, compromises client care and creates potential for harm to the clients (Lawson & Venart, 2005). Leaders in the counseling profession strongly encourage counselors to be proactive in maintaining their own wellness and self-care. Counselors need to “fill the well” of their own sense of well-being continually, so they can “pour it out” for their clients (Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel, 2007). For example, Lawson (2007) reported that counselors who endorsed 15 highly valued career sustaining behaviors scored higher on compassion satisfaction and lower on burnout. However, despite individuals’ efforts to maintain a wellness lifestyle, the work environment may have a significant role in impeding or supporting wellness efforts. If the work environment does not allow for rejuvenation, or if wellness is not valued, employees (counselors) may become distressed and impaired (Maslach, Leiter, & Schaufeli, 2008). Witmer and Young (1996) suggested that counselor education programs promote and model wellness for their students so they can prepare themselves to make lasting changes in their life to reduce the risk of impairment. Further, if counselors create an individual sense of wellness, they can advocate for their personal well-being in the agency and redirect energies towards organization wellness (Lambie & Young, 2007). Previous authors suggested that the agencies in which counselors work can help to create wellness environments that contribute to counselors’ overall functioning. For example, Witmer and Young (1996) posited that counselor education programs, employing organizations and regulatory boards should develop systemic preventative wellness protocols to prevent counselor impairment. Their recommendations to agencies included equally distributing the most difficult cases,