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  • Essay / Key Elements of Self-Care for Counselors in the Profession

    Table of ContentsIgnoring Signals of Stress as a CounselorStep One: Counselor Self-AssessmentAiming for a Happy Life and Setting GoalsConclusionMaintaining a Good Therapeutic Relationship with a Client and providing the best possible help, are essential elements of the role of a good advisor. Professions like this, which are about giving more than receiving, often face burnout and STS (secondary traumatic stress) in turn. A counselor is expected to demonstrate a certain level of empathetic engagement every time they meet with a client. Research has shown that when a counselor decides to ignore the burnout and stress caused by the profession itself, they are not able to help their clients in the best way they are trained to. TO DO. This essay will discuss the essential reasons why counselors should control their mental health, happiness in life, and stable goals before they can try to help their clients during counseling. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIgnoring Stress Signals as a CounselorCounsellors are recognized in communities as healers to people who come to them in distress because of the problems in their current life. , previous serious trauma, or behaviors they are not proud of, all in the hope that their counselor will take charge of the healing process. When the workload of typical high distress or trauma cases begins to pile up over the course of their career, counselors may begin to experience burnout or exhaustion from the excessive amount of work that is entrusted to them (Halloran, Linton, 2000). It should be noted that burnout from a profession that requires one to be fully emotionally available to a client can trigger irritability toward other future clients, increased sensitivity to hearing certain things being confessed, and lower ambition towards other aspects of their lives outside. work who also count on them, like family and friends. In addition to the effects of burnout, counselors are at risk of experiencing STS (secondary traumatic stress) from clients with severe cases or trauma such as rape/sexual assault, death or even a crime has occurred. These cases can lead to “depression, insomnia, loss of intimacy with friends and family, and both are cumulative” (Halloran, Linton, 2000, p. 355). The burnout and STS that a counselor experiences can, in essence, be detrimental to the relationship and counseling practice if left unaddressed. In a study by Gentry, Baggerly, and Baranowsky (2004), 83 licensed mental health counselors experiencing STS were assigned and given a treatment plan certified by a compassion fatigue training course in which methods of adaptation were presented. The results obtained were that the counselors felt a reduction in professional burnout after the end of the study. For counselors to provide the best, honest help possible, they must first help care for themselves as a person by having a sense of conscience, a thirst for a happy life outside of work, and finally by setting their own personal goals, just like them. help customers define theirs. Step One: Advisor Self-Check The first step the advisor must recognize to create.