Resilience of Professional Counselors Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Qualitative analysis of university counselors' online counseling experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study aimed to reflect on counselors' experiences and the adaptation processes in university counseling centers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, 15 counselors and psychologists working at different counseling centers were reached and interviewed. Thematic analysis showed that participants had to adapt to changes brought by the pandemic to continue their services. The adaptation of counseling centers to online practices showed differences according to administrative decisions and technical capacities. As a result of the urgent need to continue providing psychological help, participants moved to online practices, which caused professional and social life changes. Participant attitudes to online counseling were mainly positive. Since students had to move back to their family homes during the pandemic, limited confidentiality was the main problem aside from technological glitches in online sessions. Counselors encountered personal and professional challenges as a result of the ongoing counseling sessions and listed the self-care activities they used.

Climate “Psychopathology”

Abstract. Climate change is now widely recognized as the greatest threat faced by humanity for thousands of years and is known to affect the social and environmental determinants of health; including access to clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter ( WHO, 2018 ). Anthropogenic climate change has already resulted in warming and precipitation trends that claim 150,000 lives annually, and a recent report from the WHO forecasts that between 2030 and 2050 climate change will cause an additional 250,000 additional deaths per year ( WHO, 2018 ). The interaction between climate change, mental health, and physical health is not yet well understood. This review addresses the question of how climate change is affecting mental health and will demonstrate that climate psychopathologies really matter in the face of the climate emergency.

Experiences of mental health professionals supporting front-line health and social care workers during COVID-19: qualitative study

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a well-documented impact on the mental health of front-line health and social care workers (HSCWs). However, little attention has been paid to the experiences of, and impact on, the mental health professionals who were rapidly tasked with supporting them.

AIMS

We set out to redress this gap by qualitatively exploring UK mental health professionals' experiences, views and needs while working to support the well-being of front-line HSCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

Mental health professionals working in roles supporting front-line HSCWs were recruited purposively and interviewed remotely. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed by the research team following the principles of reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

We completed interviews with 28 mental health professionals from varied professional backgrounds, career stages and settings across the UK. Mental health professionals were motivated and driven to develop new clinical pathways to support HSCWs they perceived as colleagues and many experienced professional growth. However, this also came at some costs, as they took on additional responsibilities and increased workloads, were anxious and uncertain about how best to support this workforce and tended to neglect their own health and well-being. Many were professionally isolated and were affected vicariously by the traumas and moral injuries that healthcare workers talked about in sessions.

CONCLUSIONS

This research highlights the urgent need to consider the mental well-being, training and support of mental health professionals who are supporting front-line workers.

Infusing Self-Care and Wellness into CACREP Curricula: Pedagogical Recommendations for Counselor Educators and Counselors during COVID-19

Although self-care and wellness practices are important in counselor education, they have yet to be mapped and incorporated into the CACREP curriculum. Counselor educators are called to teach and model these practices for counselors in training (CIT) in a post-pandemic reality. The authors provide specific recommendations for integrating self-care and wellness practices across the CACREP curriculum in counselor education training programs, as well as pragmatic approaches for professional counselors, to address the paucity of literature.

Rape Crisis Counseling: Trauma Contagion and Supervision

This study of rape crisis counselors considers whether increased exposure to victims' trauma is associated with increased supervision-believed necessary to combat trauma contagion-and whether such supervision will reduce the negative impact of such exposure. One hundred six women counselors in seven of nine rape crisis centers in Israel completed anonymous questionnaires documenting their work and trauma exposure. Trauma exposure was defined by counselors' number of victim-contact hours per week and their assessment of the trauma severity they experienced. Supervision was measured by the number of hours received. Counselors trauma outcome indicators included sexual intimacy, secondary traumatization (evidenced in posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]-type symptomology), and vicarious traumatization (expressed as a disturbance in cognitive schemes that undermine the self and others). Hypotheses were evaluated in fully recursive path analyses via ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Participants' mean age was 43.4 years; 58% were married, 26% single, 13% divorced, and 3% widowed; 81% had a college degree or more; 18.9% reported being exposed to victims-trauma at a minimal level, 54.7% moderate and 26.4% extreme; and 43.4% were abused at some time in their lives. Job exposure to victims' trauma was significantly associated with increases in supervision time (β = .33, p = .002). Supervision time fully mediated the relationship between duration of exposure to victims' trauma and counselors' secondary traumatization reports such that increased supervision was associated with degrading sexual intimacy (β = .22; p = .032) and increased Secondary Trauma Scale scores (β = .44; p = .004) after taking into account counselors' education level, history of abuse, anger management in intimate relationship, and posttraumatic growth scores. The study results raise concern about counselors' mental health in that the supervision effect exacerbated the trauma contagion impacts. The study suggests a need for documenting the nature of the supervision and considering different types of supervision methods.

A Therapist’s Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth and Transformation of Self

The South Korean Sewol ferry sank off the Jindo Island in April 2014, with the loss of 304 lives. Of those who died, 250 were students from Danwon High School. Our study examined the tragedy and detailed experiences of the therapist who helped the bereaved families. It employed an idiographic approach that allowed the therapist to speak the language of her consciousness, personal growth, and meaning making. We conducted a critical narrative analysis to integrate individual dialogues and institutional discourses. The results revealed the therapist’s motives for commencing therapy post the Sewol tragedy, her projective identification with adolescent siblings of victims, ambivalence toward their parents, and an awakening that trauma and loss can be framed within a larger sociocultural context. The process transformed the self-of-the-therapist and helped her redefine the role of trauma therapists. The therapist’s critical reflection on macro–micro interconnection and vicarious posttraumatic growth were also discussed. The results suggest therapeutic implications for trauma professionals at both the individual and system levels.