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This article was quite powerful with many take-aways. The school counselor has many demands in which they are required to meet the needs of their students and parents. But who comes to the aid of the school counselor when they become overwhelmed with stress and they are physically and emotionally drained?

Takeaway: My first takeaway is that as a school counselor we are required to seek self care because if we do not then we have become the liability when it comes to servicing the needs of our students. I learned that we need to be able to recognize the signs of burnout such as handling a crisis situation in an inappropriate way, displaying, negativity, and and calling into work

Importance of Self-Care: Self-care is important because burnout equals student impairment. If a school counselor is experiencing burnout then they are now considered the liability and they are unable to service the needs of their students

Prevention Strategies: The article had many strategies that one could practice such as addressing co-workers if they display burnout signs or evaluating my own performance for burnout. The biggest prevention and intervention plans for self-care that I learned were the following:

Find a way to refill your my emotional bucket. For example, I enjoy nature walks and hiking but I do not do it enough.

Develop my own personal support system. For example, I currently have a "lunch bunch group" where I can decompress with others within my profession.

Engaging in my self-assessments and evaluations.

Bottom line, as a future counselor we have an ethical obligation to seek self-care in order to properly address the needs of our students. Self-care in this case is not something that your hope to get to but something that you are required to do (Williams , 2011).

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When I was reading this brochure I was taken back to some of things I saw and experienced when I completed my practicum.

Takeaway: My school counselor had little to no supervision and she was only able to rely on themselves and at times the campus social worker. I can see how a school counselor can feel burnout when they are servicing the needs of their students and being asked to manage the many non-counseling duties. I remember when I became a teacher I was assigned to a mentor but I wonder who will be my mentor and will I be able to advocate for myself and my students.

Importance of Self-Care:

Self-Care is important for every counselor to practice because they are more considered more vulnerable to develop traumatic stress symptoms. As a result, when these symptoms are not acknowledged this in turn can lead to absenteeism, turnover, mistrusts of colleagues, and feelings of resentment which can lead to ethical misconduct. Self-care enables the counselor to obtain that work balance by stating committed to self-awareness(Lawsom & Venart , 2003).

Prevention Strategies:

I learned a few prevention strategies that I can incorporate such as advocating for supervision, talking with colleagues about traumatic caseloads but still respecting confidentiality, and spending time with loved ones. The brochure embedded a prevention article that stated that traveling, hobbies, and movies are strategies that one can engage in to address burnout. I can recall my site supervisor telling me that she ensures that she goes on vacation during the Christmas break and the summer break as a way to combat burnout and compassion fatigue (Lawsom & Venart , 2003).

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Protecting the Well-Being of the School Counselor

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Protecting the Well-Being of the School Counselor

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My takeaway from this article are the four strategies that promote positive mental help for the school counselor. This is important because school counselors have an ethical responsibility to advocate for self-care so that they can avoid burn out and becoming a liability. The four strategies include:

Develop Staff Shared Agreements: I envision this where school counselors reflect together at the end of the week by interacting about the various incidents that they witnessed with their students and families. School counselors can learn from one another about the importance of establishing boundaries, supporting, and following up with each other.

Meet Up at the Water Cooler: I envision this as when school counselors check in with each other for a quick five minute check-in. They reflect on how they are feeling and how their day is going. If a peer is having an off day that is when we offer employee assistance programs.

Revisit the "why": As I prepare to graduate I am excited to start my new career as a school counselor. This strategy enables the school counselor to reflect why they selected this profession and reflect what new strategies they learned to better support students, parents, teachers, and their administrators.

Focus on adult social emotional learning: I envision this as taking note on what works. What coping strategies have I noted that have worked or not worked? This will enable me to create a plan so that I increase my own self-awareness (Schlund & Fitzgerald, 2021).

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According to the American Counseling Association (2014) school counselors have an ethical obligation to engage in self-care activities to that they can promote the overall wellbeing of the their students in order to meet their professional responsibilities,

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Lawsom, G., & Venart , B. (2003). Preventing Counselor Impairment: Vulnerability, Wellness, and Resilience, 243–246.

Schlund, J., & Fitzgerald, A. (2021). Who helps the helpers? sel for school counselors’ mental health. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/blogs/who-helps-the-helpers-social-emotional-learning-for-school-counselors-mental-health

Williams , R. (2011). The importance of self-care. The Importance of Self-Care - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Magazines/January-February-2011/The-Importance-of-Self-Care