1. Personal Therapy for Counselor-Trainees to Protect Against Vicarious Traumatization
Sally Ann Goncalves
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Introduction
Vicarious traumatization (VT) is a phenomenon whereby those in the help-
ing profession experience trauma symptoms similar to the client, without
having directly experienced the trauma. As counselor-trainees move from
the classroom to practicum and internship field experiences, there is po-
tential to encounter traumatized clients and experience VT. Carl Rogers
(1961) defined the counseling relationship where “one of the parties has
the intent of promoting the growth, development, maturity, improved func-
tioning and improved coping with life of the other” (p. 39). The counselor is
used as a therapeutic tool providing an empathic presence (Sadler-Ger-
hardt & Stevenson, 2011). In giving of themselves in this manner, coun-
selors may be vulnerable to their own triggers (Bell & Robinson, 2013).
Sommer (2008) reported counselors may experience symptoms that re-
quire clinical attention including headaches, nausea, and psychological
distress. The ACA Code of Ethics (2014) requires that counselor-trainees
cease giving care when they are experiencing emotional problems to
avoid harming the client. Personal counseling is one of the protective fac-
tors for VT that may reduce the likelihood of client harm.
Objectives
To raise and bring attention to the phenomenon of VT among coun-
selor-trainees, and highlight the potential benefits,ethics and questions
that may be considered when personal counseling is contemplated to re-
duce risk.
Ethics
The ACA Code of Ethics (2014) requires that counselor-trainees cease
giving care when they are experiencing emotional problems that may
harm clients or others, until such time as they can safely return to coun-
seling.
Benefits of Therapy to Reduce Risk
● Heightened consciousness & awareness of own issues (Oteiza,
2010)
● Increased ability to identify blind spots (Oteiza, 2010)
● Therapist is used as a model & professional reference (Oteiza,
2010)
● A means of self-care (Daw & Joseph, 2007)
● Learning the client role through experience (Daw & Joseph, 2007),
as well as a lived experience of the client (Oteiza, 2010)
● Contributes to professional (Oteiza, 2010) and personal develop-
ment (Daw & Joseph, 2007)
● A way to learn internal processes (Daw & Joseph, 2007)
● Experience power of transference (Ivey, 2014)
● Unconscious communication more easily identified (Ivey, 2014)
● Strategy to maintain client/counselor boundaries (Harrison & West-
wood, 2009)
● Counselor gains knowledge of the theory they are using in practice
(Glass, 1986)
● React more empathically and objectively to client material (Glass,
2986)
● May be more influential than supervision (Pope & Tabachnick,
1994)
● Improve skills as a counselor (Pope & Tabachnick, 1994)
Questions to Consider
● Should personal therapy be a mandatory requirement?
● Is it problematic for counseling students to simultaneously be clients,
trainees and counselors?
● Is there a benefit of personal therapy for counselor-trainees who are
not suffering or do not feel a need for treatment?
● Can the therapist virtues of empathy, sincerity, integrity, resilience,
respect, humility, competence, fairness, wisdom, and courage (Ivey,
2014) be cultivated without personal therapy?
References
American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexan-
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Daw, B. & Joseph, J. (2007). Qualified therapists' experience of personal
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Glass, J. (1986). Personal therapy and the student therapist. Canadian
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Harrison, R.L. & Westwood, M.J. (2009). Preventing vicarious traumati-
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Ivey, G. (2014). The ethics of mandatory personal psychotherapy for train-
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Oteiza, V. (2010). Therapists' experiences of personal therapy: A descrip-
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Pope, K.S. & Tabachnick, B.G. (1994). Therapists as patients: A national
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Acknowledgments
Katherine Shirley, Ph.D., Faculty Advisor
Department of Psychology and Counseling, Fairfield Dickinson University