Replenishing%20the%20Wellspring:%20Exploring%20Counselor%20Wellness%20and%20Resiliency

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Replenishing the Wellspring Exploring Counselor
Wellness and Resiliency
Melissa Jaworowski Veronica Fair Shawna
Augherton Katie Sepanski
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Why is wellness important for counselors?

• It is not possible
• to give to others
• what you do not possess
• (Corey, 2000)

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Why is wellness important for counselors?

• Counselor effectiveness depends more on the
  personal characteristics of counselors than on
  school, training, or theory (Hanna, Bemak,
  1997).
• Personal wellness, therefore, has an impact on
  counselor effectiveness with students (Skovholt,
  2001).

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Wellness defined

• Wellness is the hallmark characteristic of those
  whose lives achieve the balance between self,
  life, and othersWitmer Granello 2005
• Wellness is both . . . an overarching goal for
  living and a day-by-day, minute-by-minute way of
  beingMyers Sweeney 2005

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Why Wellness Is an Issue

• Well-counselors are more likely to produce
  well-clients
• Modeling
• Better able to Connect
• More attentive to emotional and cognitive content
• More energy and creativity in dealing with
  students
• Less likely to violate boundaries

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What is wellness?

• Analogy of the well
• A well sustains itself with a continuous flow of
  water when it has sources and is regularly
  replenished (Milsum, 1984).
• Without a reserve, the well dries up quickly and
  is no longer able to sustain. Well human beings
  must have reserves because overall wellness
  depends far more on these reserves than on
  performance at any given moment (Milsum, 1984).

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Replenishing the wellspring

• What replenishes your wellspring and sustains
  your resiliency?
• What helps to fill your reserve?
• What do you do to unwind at the end of the day?
• What brings you satisfaction and joy?
• What helps you derive meaning from your work?

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Definition of impairment

• Impairment occurs when there is a significant
• negative impact on a counselors professional
  functioning
• which compromises student care or poses the
  potential for
• harm to the student.
• Impairment may be due to
• Substance abuse or chemical dependency
• Mental illness
• Personal crisis (traumatic events or
  vicarious trauma, burnout, life crisis)
• Physical illness or debilitation

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Wellness Spectrum
Well
Impaired
Stressed
Distressed

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Models of Wellness A Holistic Focus

• Professional Wellness involves
• Balance
• Boundaries/Limit setting
• Getting support
• Strategies for coping
• Professional training
• Evaluation of own healing
• Replenishment

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Models of Wellness A Holistic Focus

• Environmental (Work Setting) Wellness involves
• The Physical work setting
• Value system of work place
• Job tasks Personnel Guidelines
• Supervisory/Management support
• Collegiality

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Special Risks Challenges to WellnessSkovholt
2001

• Our inability to say no-The treadmill effect
• Living in an Ocean of Emotional Stress
• Constant Empathy, Interpersonal Sensitivity, and
  One-Way Caring

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When Wellness is Eroded

• Burnout
• Compassion Fatigue
• Vicarious Traumatization

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Burnout Maslach, Jackson, Leiter, 1996

• Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization reduced
  feelings of personal accomplishment
• Typically attributed to work environment or job
  choice
• Vacation or a job change helps considerably

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Compassion fatigueFigley 1995

• A function of bearing witness to the suffering
  of others
• Feeling deep sympathy for anothers sufferingand
  a desire to alleviate the pain
• Professional Quality of Life Assessment
  (ProQOL)www.proqol.org

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Vicarious Traumatization

• Experiencing the trauma our students have
  suffered, or recalling our own past traumas due
  to the exposure through our students.
• Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995

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When Wellness is Eroded

• And then the most insidious of challenges.

LIFE
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What We Know About Counselor Impairment from the
ACA Task Forces Research

• Survey of the ACA Membership
• Most counselors have known a counselor they
  would consider impaired (63.5)In those cases
  Supervisors (54.3) and Colleagues (64.2) were
  also aware of the impairmentIn most cases the
  impaired counselor did not receive disciplinary
  (77.8) action or therapeutic intervention
  (73.7)

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Wellness Spectrum
Well
Impaired
Stressed
Distressed
When asked about their own wellness ACA members
reported 81 - Well 15 - Stressed 4
- Distressed 0 - Impaired
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Wellness Spectrum
Well
Impaired
Stressed
Distressed
When asked about their colleagues wellness ACA
members reported 47 - Well 33 -
Stressed 12 - Distressed 4 - Impaired
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Counselor Caseloads
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Maintaining Counselor Wellness
Support Through Personal Counseling
83 of counselors have sought personal counseling
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Career Sustaining Behaviors
Top 5 CSBs Maintain sense of humor Spend time
with partner/family Maintain balance between
professional and personal lives Maintain
self-awareness Maintain sense of control over
work responsibilities
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Career Sustaining Behaviors
Bottom 7 CSBs Discuss work frustrations with
spouse/partner/family Engage in formal relaxation
activities Receive regular clinical
supervision Participate in personal
therapy Participate in peer support
groups Discuss work frustrations with friends Use
substances to relax.
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Career Sustaining Behaviors CSBs Practiced by the
Most Satisfied Counselors
Reaching Out Participate in personal
therapy Discuss work frustrations with
friends Participate in peer support
groups Receive regular supervision
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Work Related Strategies Read literature to keep
up to date Participate in continuing
education Maintain professional identity Maintain
sense of control over work responsibilities Try
to maintain objectivity about students
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Wellness Strategies Across Domains
Physical Cognitive Emotional Social
Spiritual Balance

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Physical Wellness

• Good nutrition
• ExerciseFinding activities you enjoy
• Routine medical care
• Adequate sleep
• Movement/stretching during the day

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Physical Wellness

• The impact of stress on physical health
• Strategies to reduce stress
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Setting limits

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Cognitive Wellness

• Definition from Travis Ryan (2004)
• The individuals capacity for insight,
  intelligent thought, and creative
  problem-solving.
• Awareness of ones thoughts and the
  interrelationship between thinking and
  perception, feelings, body states, and behavior.
• Ability to focus and concentrate, think affirming
  thoughts, and transform counter-productive
  thinking patterns.

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Cognitive wellness

• Identifying self talk
• Countering counter-productive internalized
  messages
• Addressing perfectionism
• Learning to be kind to ourselves

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Cognitive wellness

• Calming ones mind
• Engaging ones mind
• Reading professional literature
• Taking a course
• Hobbies
• Travel
• Getting perspective

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Cognitive wellness

• Celebrating successes
• Noticing small positives
• Sharing victories in supervision
• Keeping a success journal
• Creating a thank you folder/file

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Emotional wellness

• Definition from Travis Ryan (2004)
• An individuals awareness and acceptance of
  their emotions as well as their ability to
  experience a full range of emotions and find
  constructive ways to express them.
• Reflected in a persons ability to cry,
  experience joy, accept compliments, acknowledge
  their fears, say no without feeling guilty, and
  openly express feelings of love.

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Emotional wellness

• Ways to nurture emotional wellness
• Tuning in to our emotions
• Expressing our emotions

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Emotional wellness

• Tuning in to emotion
• Not escape/avoidance
• Acknowledging our feelings
• Spending time with animals
• Spending time with healthy individuals
• Watching movies and reading books
• Spending time in connection conversation

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Emotional wellness

• Expressing the whole range of emotions
• Sadness, anger, joy, pride, disappointment,
  grief, frustration, happiness, fear, love, etc.
• Laughter
• Crying
• Talking
• Writing
• Music

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Interpersonal Wellness

• Prioritizing time with people we love
• Being authentic spontaneous in our interactions
  with people
• Ability to ask for and receive support

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Interpersonal Wellness

• Spend time with partner, family, and friends
• Surround yourself with people whose energy is
  uplifting
• Limit one-way caring relationships
• Share both your challenges and your joys

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Spiritual wellness

• A sense of interconnectedness and/or connection
  to something greater than yourself
• Whatever deeply touches and accesses a persons
  soul is his or her religion.Bradford Keeney
  2005
• The importance of meaning
• What do you find meaningful?
• How can you focus on meaning in your work?

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Spiritual wellness

• Prayer
• Meditation
• Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga
• Quiet time for self-reflection
• Time in nature
• Join a spiritual community
• Read spiritual writings

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Wellness in the workplace

• Challenges across setting
• Building a professional support network
• Daily practices that promote wellness
• Strategies within the day
• Strategies when meeting with students
• Balance within the workday and week
• Dare to vision the Best of all possible worlds

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Balance

• Balance and variety in work-related tasks
• Balance within each day and week
• Balance between work and leisure
• Sufficient time with family and friends

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RESOURCES

• www.counselorwellness.com
• www.theresiliencycenter.com
• http//www.counseling.org/wellness_taskforce/index
  .htm
• http//compassionfatigue.org/