School Counselor Self-Care Practices as Mitigating Factors Regarding Professional Burnout

As the needs of students change, the responsibilities of educators change as well. Growing awareness for childhood mental health, increased focus on academic success, and a drive for career preparation mean that the role of a school counselor is ever changing and may come with many stressors and challenges that may then lead to professional burnout and decreased efficacy as a counselor. To maintain focused and effective care for students, it is important that counselors monitor their mental health and take interventive and preventative measures to ensure they are able to best care for themselves and their students. This issue is not localized to schoolbased counselors alone but is relevant to all counselors regardless of setting. As the world changes, clients face new and changing concerns and rely on counselors for support and guidance. This responsibility, along with other personal and professional factors, can put significant strain on a counselor that can lead to issues such as burnout. With burnout experiences increasing in recent years, it is important that counselors be informed about the issue and ways in which it can be prevented and lessened. Self-care is one such way. By learning to identify needs and respond by caring for one’s emotional, mental, physical, and social health, a counselor will find that the addition of individual and personalized supports into his or her routine may greatly lessen the likelihood of burnout and improve overall health