TPC-Journal-V5-Issue4

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 4 533 practical case management through advice, direction and reassurance, and a space in which counselors can voice any traumatic incidences or personal reactions arising from their encounter (Hunter & Schofield, 2006). A wellness approach has been offered as a unique framework to address VT within the context of supervision that can be utilized to support counselors working with victims of trauma (Lenz & Smith, 2010). The wellness approach is highlighted henceforth while keeping in mind the majority of the tenets proposed by Pearlman and Saakvitne (1995) and Sommer and Cox (2005). A Wellness Framework for Supervision Lenz and Smith (2010) noted that when wellness is an essential part of the supervision process, the effects of trauma can be prevented or mitigated. Models of wellness address physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual as well as other aspects of individuals’ lives (e.g., Ardell, 1988; Hettler, 1984; Myers & Sweeney, 2004; Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 2000). Wellness has been defined as a way of life focused toward optimal health and well-being. Within this perspective, the body, mind and spirit are integrated, resulting in a life lived more fully within the human and natural community. Fully realized, it is considered a state of optimal health and well-being that each individual is capable of achieving. This is a condition that exists on a continuum as opposed to an end state (Myers et al., 2000; Roscoe, 2009). Lenz and Smith (2010) introduced the Wellness Model of Supervision (WELMS). Supervisors engaging in this approach are able to address issues that arise in supervision in a fluid and adaptable manner. The authors emphasized a process for educating supervisees about wellness, assessing supervisees’ level of wellness, evaluating wellness throughout the supervisory relationship, and developing strategies to address supervisees’ personal wellness. In a study by Lenz, Sangganjanavanich, Balkin, Oliver, & Smith (2012), when comparing WELMS to alternate approaches to supervision, individuals assigned to the WELMS group developed more comprehensive persona definitions of wellness in addition to increasing their total wellness over the span of 10 weeks. Alternately, the Indivisible Self Model of Wellness (IS-Wel; Myers & Sweeney, 2004) is an evidence- based model of wellness (Hattie, Myers, & Sweeney, 2004; Myers & Sweeney, 2004) that can be applied to help supervisees address the conscious and unconscious effects of VT as it relates to: (1) Coping Self (e.g., stress and burnout); (2) Essential Self (e.g., identity and self-care); (3) Creative Self (e.g., professional/work well-being and emotions); (4) Physical Self (e.g., physical health and eating habits); and (5) Social Self (e.g., interpersonal relationships and expressions of love). The IS-Wel model (Myers & Sweeney, 2004) may have particular utility in addressing VT, given the holistic and interconnected nature of the model. Additionally, this model incorporates the opportunity for formal assessment of the five factors described above using the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel; Myers & Sweeney, 2005) In regard to the relationship between supervisor and counselor, Sommer and Cox (2005) recommended that trauma-sensitive supervision should utilize a collaborative strengths-based approach and should include time for talking about the effects of the work and concomitant personal feelings. A collaborative relationship that focuses on the strengths of supervisees also is a cornerstone to the wellness approach (Myers & Sweeney, 2008). An IS-Wel approach to supervision is structured to provide opportunities for supervisees to reflect on their emotional and cognitive resources to deal with the effects of VT. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the aforementioned wellness and supervision models into an overall wellness approach to the process of supervision for VT.