173 The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 3 any unfair treatment (e.g., excessive workload, limited resources, unfair decision-making). For instance, they could hold a monthly meeting to listen to counselors’ difficulties and discuss improvement opportunities in the system. Paying attention to counselors’ difficulties and feedback can be critical to not only making system improvements but also building healthy relationships among members of the environment. The directors may take a careful look at their counselors’ caseloads and maintain a reasonable counselor-to-client ratio to prevent burnout and create a working environment that allows for the best services for their clients. Second, counseling center directors can prevent or reduce counselors’ burnout by providing professional development opportunities. Counselors have experienced rapid changes in terms of counseling modalities and strategies and may feel inadequately prepared to meet the unique needs of their clients, which can result in counselor burnout. Therefore, it is beneficial for counselors to engage in professional development activities, such as workshops, continuing education, and conferences, to expand their knowledge and skills. These types of opportunities can reduce counselors’ feelings of incompetence and prevent them from progressing to the last phase (devaluing clients), even if the counselors are in the later phases of burnout. Limitations and Future Directions The current study provides an in-depth understanding of the expanded developmental model of counselor burnout and suggests significant implications for the counseling profession. Nevertheless, there are some limitations in the current study. First, although our research participants represented the overall characteristics of the counseling population fairly, future research should contain counselors from diverse backgrounds with regard to demographics, work settings, or specialties. Increased diversity could help us understand the unique burnout phenomenon among counselor populations working in various settings and with diverse clients. Second, this study examined the sequential model of counselor burnout within the structure of the five subfactors of the CBI (S. M. Lee et al., 2007), including Negative Work Environment, Deterioration in Personal Life, Exhaustion, Incompetence, and Devaluing Client. Further investigation should involve external variables to explore what may contribute to the development of counselor burnout and how it may affect the counseling process and outcomes. Lastly, a longitudinal study is necessary to capture the extended understanding of the sequential development model of counselor burnout, given that time may be a critical factor that influences burnout among professionals. By conducting a longitudinal study, counseling professionals will be able to detect the advancement of burnout and take immediate action to initiate prevention and intervention plans. Conclusion Professional counselors who work in a negative work environment for an extended period may start to experience a deterioration in their personal lives, which could lead counselors to emotional and physical exhaustion. Counselors exposed to prolonged exhaustion may also feel a lack of competence in counseling, which may make them prone to becoming callous toward their clients. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first attempt to acquire an expanded understanding of a process model of counselor burnout using the five dimensions of burnout. The research findings validated the aforementioned hypothesized process model of counselor burnout, suggesting how counselor burnout may develop from their experiences at work to the point where they may harm their clients. Counselors may utilize this model to detect the early signs of counselor burnout and to develop strategies, such
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