TPC-Journal-V5-Issue4

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 4 535 can be strategic in helping supervisees mitigate the VT response. In order to empower supervisees to be active agents in assessing and enhancing their wellness, supervisors can provide specific information regarding the integrated model of wellness. This can be beneficial to both parties offering a common reference point to be used throughout supervisees’ clinical work. Embedding elements of the integrated model into different modalities of supervision (i.e., individual, triadic, and group) can also reinforce critical elements of this approach. Equipped with this information, supervisees can be the primary manager of their own wellness with the supervisor serving in a facilitative and supportive role. To ensure meaningful engagements on the part of supervisees allowing for examination of the five elements of the IS-Wel (i.e., Coping Self, Essential Self, Creative Self, Physical Self, Social Self), supervisors can encourage their supervisees to increase collegial interaction and avoid professional isolation. Formal or informal support groups may be an adjunctive venue in which these components are assessed and remediated when appropriate. Evidence suggests that support groups for professionals who deal with trauma issues in their clinical work are a useful tool (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Discussion regarding these resources can occur both at the beginning of the supervisory relationship and at appropriate times when a supervisee appears at risk for VT. Apart from support groups, supervisors can take an active role to support the Coping Self by monitoring the amount of traumatized clients assigned to a counselor. As noted earlier, the amount of exposure to client trauma is related to VT in counselors (Pearlman & Mac Ian, 1995). Managing counselors’ caseloads through monitoring and limiting the number of trauma clients can minimize the potential vicarious effects of working with traumatized clients (Trippany et al., 2004). According to Pearlman and Mac Ian (1995), this can minimize the cumulative effect of counselors’ work with clients with traumatic experiences. For example, the caseload of traumatized clients could be equally distributed among qualified providers so as to avoid overwhelming or overloading a counselor at risk for VT, even if trauma therapy is the expertise of only one or a few in the agency. Training for those not specializing in this topic can broaden the number of counselors equipped to address this issue. Additional professional development opportunities, such as workshops focused on trauma therapy, may also help other agency personnel become more comfortable in providing services to traumatized clients. In the following section, a composite case is provided to illustrate the integrated wellness approach to supervision with counselors treating traumatized clients. In this example, the clinical supervisor is working with a counselor who has several clients struggling with issues of trauma related to military experiences. This case incorporates the previously discussed strategies but is not the only potential response clinical supervisors may utilize to address the counselor’s issues. It is suggested that the reader consider the adaptability of the case to their own supervisory interactions. Case Study of Richard Richard was a licensed professional counselor working in a community mental health agency near a U.S. Marine Corps military installation. This installation had several military personnel who returned from deployment in which they were involved in active combat. Although a civilian agency, the counselors on staff provided services to many military personnel and veterans. Thus, this agency was often identified as a resource to military service members and their families. Richard did not have a personal history of military service, but had extended family members who were military veterans. He had a passion for assisting soldiers who were struggling with issues