Teaching Carers to Self-Care BY Pamela Bernal Vallejo
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- Teaching Carers to Self-Care: Student Perceptions of Self-Care Integration in Counselling Training BY Pamela Bernal Vallejo
Due to the nature of their profession, counsellors are vulnerable to empathy fatigue, burnout, stress, vicarious traumatisation, and emotional exhaustion. Trainee therapists are particularly at risk of experiencing this distress. Therefore, preventative interventions are crucial for them to maintain their quality of life, practice ethically, and decrease risk of impairment. One of these strategies is self-care, which involves active participation in activities that promote personal well-being. For this reason, some counselling programmes incorporate self-care into their training. However, students still report decreased well-being, increased distress, and low engagement in self-care! Why is this happening? This exploratory study aimed to understand students perceptions of their course’s self-care emphasis, the extent to which it links with their self-care practices and elements which promoted or hindered their participation in self-care throughout their training.
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Great effort, nice working with you. Hypothetical question here : if the study was to expand to cover across the whole of UK on multiple training programs, how could you design the study to make it practical since 13 interviews have already been very time-consuming in one school.
Hi! It was nice working with you on this project too. That's an interesting question! First, to minimise risk of bias it might be best if these studies are conducted by a party external to the training programmes.
Furthermore, since this was an exploratory study perhaps more interviews and analyses would be relevant to further identify and support main themes in various populations and programmes and to promote generalisability. As you mention, this is a significant endeavour and would require more time and researchers.
Perhaps a quantitative measure can also be designed from these results to investigate these experiences in a larger audience. These can be accompanied by interviews to represent idiosyncrasies of the training programmes. These measures would also need to be validated for the population.
It sounds like an interesting endeavour! Let me know if you have any additional ideas for how this could be conducted.
Best,
Pamela
Well done! The findings about the misuse of self-care are interesting. Under which subtheme would you put it? Is it misuse or a self-judgement?
Hello! Very insightful question. I would place the misuse of self-care under 'self-care impact' subtheme. It incorporates both elements that you mentioned- some participants mentioned elements of self-judgment (such as feeling guilty) and others mentioned using self-care in a way that had a negative effect on them ("self-sabotage" and "self-punishment"). I hope this answered your question, please feel free to inquire further if anything is unclear.
Best,
Pamela
Great Study! I wondering if the participants provided any context behind feeling self judged, guilty and self-sabotage.
Hello! Great question. The context often encompassed using self-care strategies in a way that was not aligned with mindful consideration of its impact. For instance, exercise that can be beneficial in moderation, if approached in an 'excessive' manner can begin to have a negative impact on the person's well-being. The judgment and guilt sometimes regarded perceiving that others will invalidate their self-care practices. This might link to why many participants later refered to tutor and peer's normalisation, validation, and encouragement as a facilitative factor.
Thank you for your question! I hope this reply was helpful, please feel free to inquire further if anything remains unclear.
Best,
Pamela
Hi Pam! Great presentation, very insightful! I was curious about whether your research into this topic and the findings of this study impacted or changed your own perceptions or practice of self-care as someone also on the same counselling course as the participants.
Hello! Great question. I think it had an impact on my perceptions as a counselling student, as it highlighted the importance of its practice for ethical and sustainable academic and professional work. It was very validating when I decided to take self-care breaks while writing the dissertation! I also think that it emphasised its importance for personal well-being, which is something that can contribute to other areas of my life as well. Thank you for your question, I hope this answered it. Please feel free to inquire further!
Best,
Pamela
Hi Pam! I found the discussion particularly detailed in its exploration of each theme. Was there any insight that surprised and shifted your initial perception of the results you obtained as you read through literature?
Hello! Great question. An insight that particularly stood out to me was how many participants emphasised their relationships with their tutors and considered it as an important contributor in encouraging, normalising, and validating self-care. The literature I found referenced the importance of these relationships in education and to facilitate learning, but to my knowledge possible links with trainees' self-care practices remain unexplored. I consider it may be a very interesting area for future research!
Thank you for your question, please feel free to inquire further.
Best,
Pamela
Great presentation! How do you think your study on self-care impacted your work with clients?
Thank you!
I think it has made me more aware of the importance of self-care in maintaining well-being, the significance of exploring self-care prefrences, and the benefits of varied and flexible strategies.
Best,
Pamela
interesting study. what is your personal take on the requirement of self care as a working counsellour?
Hi! Great question. I think it is an essential practice for the counsellor to maintain their well-being and competency, particularly considering the professional, emotional, and logistical demands of our profession. Thank you for asking!
Best,
Pamela
This study presents really interesting considerations about self-care. I'm just wondering if any risks were perceived around self-care being considered an ethical requirement, or feeling like a box to check off? How, if at all, do you think that invariably sustains the misrepresentation of trainee wellbeing?
Hello! Great question. As participants were undergoing counselling training, the consideration of self-care is essential for appropriate and ethical practice and is included in many professional bodies' Ethical Frameworks.This encouraged self-care exploration and implementation for many participants, and was maintained due to its beneficial impact on personal and professional spheres. The identified risks, as you mentioned, centred around students possibly misrepresenting their well-being or hesitating to disclose difficulties. However, it is necessary that students are made aware of self-care as an ethical requirement and its role in appropriate and safe practice. It might be worth mentioning that this risk of possible misrepresentation was only referenced by one participant, and further research would be required to address how common or significant it may be for the counselling trainee population.
Thank you for your question, I hope this was helpful, please feel free to inquire further if anything is unclear.
Best,
Pamela
Did the interviews offer insight into what contextual factors had the biggest impact on trainees not adopting self care?
Hello! Great question. This varied significantly due to the personalised nature of self-care and differences in participants' situations and approaches. Some of the main elements that emerged were: financial resources; increased workload; living in a new city and being unaware of available opportunities, distance from social support, and lack of access to previous self-care strategies; and the impact of seasons. However, it is worth noting that some of these worked as facilitative factors for some participants, again highlighting the personalised nature of self-care.
I hope this answered your question, please feel free to inquire further.
Best,
Pamela