Self-Care for Counselors in Training

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to explore the results of four different self-care and personal wellness assessments that were taken. An analysis of the results and questions in the assessments are addressed and a correlation between all the assessments is gathered. The results act as a starting point, or a point of reference, as the entry into the counseling profession is considered and prepared for. The second portion of the work delves into specific action steps that will be carried out in an attempt at achieving overall wellness and practicing the best form of self-care. In accomplishing such, it acts as a means of fighting against the impairments that try to rise and impede progress in the counseling profession. Self-care for counselors is crucial as they are commonly predisposed to already having personality traits that are very others-focused and altruistic. Counselors should be aware of their possible impairments because it could lead to the demise of themselves, their clients, and their counseling practice.

Personal Assessment

Working at a college in the department of student services for the last seven years has proven to have many challenges and there are always certain times of the year, such as the month of August, that are extremely stressful. The demands of students and their parents can be mentally draining, and they are quick to throw you under the bus, so to speak, if things do not work out the way in which they desire. I have seen many of my coworkers’ experience burnout working alongside me and I have felt burnout rise inside of myself from time to time.

With slight fear and trepidation, I took the Life Change Index Scale (The Stress Test) and came out with a score of 234 (T. H. Holmes 1967). Not surprisingly, I discovered that many of items were work related. Though I have been working at the same college for seven years, I have changed positions within the college to a more challenging position as an academic advisor at a busier campus. According to the life change units on the test, people who score in-between 150-299 are at about a fifty percent chance or likelihood of experiencing illness in the future (T. H. Holmes 1967). Obviously, seeing this score was eye-opening and was helpful for reflection and consideration, though I truly cannot say that I am surprised by this score.

After completing The Self-Care Assessment Worksheet, it showed that my lowest score (21) was on the work or professional self-care category which was congruent with The Stress Test assessment (Saakvitne 1996). The next highest scores on the assessment were: psychological self-care (29), then spiritual self-care (36), and then physical self-care (39). These results reflect my current life and self-care fairly accurately, however the one score that I was very surprised by was the highest score being in the physical self-care category because I rarely exercise and my eating habits are not usually the best, especially during busier times of the year at work.

The Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet was visually fascinating, and it was apparent on this assessment that the physical (orange) section was the one that is lacking the most (R. Robertson, 2001). Secondly, the emotional (red) section was the one that also appeared to be lacking. The social (green), financial (yellow), spiritual (blue), and intellectual (purple) sections all appeared to be significantly better compared to the physical and emotional categories. This assessment proves how much I have been effectively leaning on several friendships in my life. As I have gotten older, I have been more careful with who I let into my life. My closer friends are the ones who I know that I can trust for advice and affirmation.

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support was congruent with the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet in the sense that it indicated my highest score as being in the friend’s category (23) (Zimet 1988). My second highest score was in the significate other (18) category and then lastly the family (12) category was at the bottom of the support list. These scores and order of support in my life make sense because for bigger things I tend to call and talk to friends for support. I typically do not feel like I am able to burden my spouse and extended family with struggles because of their own things that they are working toward overcoming.

Overall, these four assessments have proven to be thought provoking and helpful for considering my current state of wellness and for preparation for entry into the counseling profession. I am starting to be more cognizant of current impairments that I have in my current job. There are some areas that I am experiencing burnout in now in the work that I do in student services. In other words, these assessments came at an appropriate time and I look forward to referring to these assessments in the future throughout the entirety of my graduate education and then during my time practicing as a licensed counselor. Establishing self-awareness and self-care now ultimately will set the example needed for the clients that I will serve in the future.

Wellness Strategies

I am not exactly sure why I have experienced this, but physical self-care has increasingly been more and more difficult for me to be disciplined in the older I get. This area I need to work on the most because physical health affects everything else in life. The main change that I need to make in this area is eat three balanced meals a day instead of skimping on breakfast and lunch and then eating a large amount of carbohydrates and sugary foods when I come home from work. I also would like to make a habit of going on walks or running a couple miles every day. The steps that I am willing to make toward eating healthier are waking up earlier so that I have time to eat breakfast and prepare lunch. Then when I get home from work, I will try to work toward doing something active such as going for a walk, running, or swimming.

Spirituality is important and I often will sacrifice or skimp on my devotional/quiet times when I am busier at work. Bible reading and prayer are highly important for promoting and fostering mental peace and self-awareness. I commonly listen to a Bible audio app while I am folding laundry, however I believe that it is important to spend more intentional, or focused attention on spiritual development. The steps that I plan on making in order to help in this area are to include devotions or Bible readings in my morning routine. I also plan on playing piano and violin more often in the evenings as to help generate a peaceful atmosphere to invite the Lord to speak into my life and over the lives of my family members.

Financial and work habits are obviously a huge part of one’s life and after these assessments, I visually see how detrimental my current job has been to my overall heath and wellness. Recently, my supervisor told me that our campus just needs more employees in our department because there are just too many students that we are trying to serve that it is next to humanly impossible to stay on top of things for our team. This being said, I believe that I will focus on seeking another job within the college that I work for in order to have less of a work-load because I just do not know how much longer I can handle it all. The active step I will take to help toward achieving better work/professional self-care is to seek out different positions that may become available.

Emotional self-care is probably the most non-tangible of all the forms of self-care, and I believe that people in general are likely to brush their emotions under the rug all too quickly. I understand that I am accountable for all my emotions and actions, however I commonly do not even acknowledge my own emotions at all because I am so constantly immersed with everyone else’s emotional states. Though I am slightly extroverted, I have learned that I must take time to be alone on a regular basis as to have the time I need to be more cognizant of my own emotions. One active step that I plan on taking towards achieving better emotional self-care is seeking my own psychotherapy. I have had minimal counseling of my own in the past and it is evident to me that I need to see a counselor in order to work through some of my personal issues.

For intellectual self-care, I have planned to take a slower pace at finishing graduate school. I understand that many of my classmates most likely have plans on finishing their degrees in two years, however because of my previous experience and wisdom gained, I know that it will be best for me to take semesters off and then resume coursework when I feel that I am ready. In the podcast, Self-Care, Burnout, and the Way Forward: One Counselor’s Inspiring Story with Jessica Smith, Jessica Smith refers to how intellectual self-care can prove to be extremely challenging for graduate counseling students because of the amount of course work, it is hard to find the time for reading anything other than school related material and also it is hard to digest the amount of material being studied (Shook 2018). I understand that learning and studying can and will happen whether I finish my degree in two years or if it takes me five years to complete.

For improving social self-care, I plan on being careful about the types of people that I expose myself to for extended amounts of time. Some personalities or friends are more exhausting to be around than others. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them or myself, it just means it is something to be cognizant of and to understand what my limits and boundaries are. Other than this, I believe that my social self-care is probably one of the healthiest areas of my life, especially as I compare it to the previously explores areas of self-care.

In conclusion, the four assessments have given me tremendous insight into myself and they have given me a plethora of items to work on in order to further my overall wellbeing. Counselor impairment may not be able to be perfectly prevented, however these assessments and taking the time to plan for future wellness and self-care are important steps in preventing future impairment as much as possible. The more effectively I can learn to practice self-care now, the better that I can help clients learn how to practice self-care themselves!

References

R. Robertson & G. Microys, Life Balance Assessment and Action Planning Guide, 2001-2 and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, Your Guide to the Wellness Wheel. [Measurement Instrument]. Retrieved from https://studentwellness.uci.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Assessing-Your-Life-Balance.pdf

Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff of TSI/CAAP (Norton, 1996). Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. [Measurement Instrument]. Retrieved from https://www.mentoring.org/new-site/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/MARCH_2015_Self_Care_Assessment.pdf

Shook, M. (Producer). (2018, June 20). Self-Care, Burnout, and the Way Forward: One Counselor’s Inspiring Story with Jessica Smith [Audio Podcast]. The Thoughtful Counselor. Retrieved from https://wp.me/p7R6fn-qi.

T.H.Holmes and T.H. Rahe. "The Social Readjustment Rating Scale," Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 11:213, 1967. [Measurement Instrument]. Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/eap/library/lifechangestresstest.pdf

Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley (1988). Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support [Measurement Instrument]. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/rokada/psyctest/socsupp.pdf