Do counselor education programs promote wellness in their students?(Report)

It is widely accepted that counselor impairment presents a problem in the counseling profession (M. E. Young & G. W. Lambie, 2007). Wellness as a unifying philosophy in counselor education may be a way to prevent impairment and burnout in students and professionals. Although counselor educators strive to promote a wellness philosophy in students, their efforts may be largely unsuccessful. This study examines the influence of counselor education programs on counselor wellness by investigating broad trends in levels of wellness among students at 3 points in their training and offers insights into the influence of wellness in the training of today's counselors.

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The professional organizations representing the counseling profession support an emphasis on wellness of counselors and counseling students (American Association for Counseling and Development, 1991; American Counseling Association, 2005; Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 1993; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2001; Myers, 1992). However, counselor education programs may be lagging in adopting these values and seem to lack systematic ways to both evaluate the wellness of prospective candidates and improve wellness in current students (Hensley, Smith, & Thompson, 2003). Several studies (Hosford, Johnson, & Atkinson, 1984; Market & Monke, 1990; McKee, Harris, & Swanson, 1979) found that most admissions' procedures focused on a limited number of criteria such as Graduate Record Examination scores, undergraduate grade point average, letters of recommendation, and interviews that had low-positive correlations with academic success and the attainment of counseling skills. Bradley and Post (1991) found that, although programs had procedures in place to evaluate academic success, few had procedures in place to effectively monitor students' personal issues. Since Bradley and Post's study, several researchers have outlined counselor characteristics; behavioral expectations; and review policies designed to address improving wellness, personal growth, and development of students (Baldo & Softas-Nall, 1997; Frame & Stevens-Smith, 1995; Lumadue & Duffey, 1999; Torres-Rivera et al., 2002). Still, there is limited research on the use of wellness as a criterion for selection, monitoring impairment, or retention.

The problem of counselor impairment, often a result of anxiety, job stress, and burnout, is well documented in the literature (Emerson & Markos. 1996: Hazler & Kottler, 1996: Herlihy, 1996: O'Halloran & Linton, 2000: Olsheski & Leech, 1996: Sheffield, 1998; Young & Lambie, 2007). Burnout has been defined as "physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of negative self-concept, negative job attitudes, and loss of concern and feeling for clients" (Pines & Maslach, 1978, p. 234). Burnout is an occupational hazard that not only affects the counselor but also could contribute to a diminished ability to act in a manner that promotes the well-being of others (Stebnicki, 2000). The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that counselors are often reluctant to admit they have a problem and often do not seek help for this condition, thus continuing to work even when impaired (Kottler, 1993). According to Frame and Stevens-Smith (1995), counselor educators must be concerned about impairment in the students they are training and potential harm to clients. The inherent danger of impairment offers a powerful argument for the necessity of promoting and monitoring wellness in counseling students.

Associated with the notion of wellness are two related terms in the counselor education literature: personal awareness and personal development. Personal awareness refers to consciousness of one's strengths and limitations and one's thoughts, feelings, emotions, and needs (Witmer. 1985). Personal development, as we use it, refers to personal and professional growth due to knowledge and experience. Personal awareness is widely considered to be an integral component of effective multicultural counseling (Sue & Sue, 1999: Torres-Rivera, Phan, Maddux, Wilbur, & Garrett, 2001), and personal development has consistently been included as an integral part of supervision models in counselor training (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998). However, according to Prieto's (1998) survey of practicum class supervision, only 11% of practicum class time was spent on the professional and personal issues of students. One way of systematically building in this emphasis on personal growth and development is through the incorporation of a wellness model in counselor education (Witmer & Young, 1996). A wellness inodel advocates self-care; self-awareness; and personal development of one's physical, mental, and spiritual life. At present, only a handful of counselor education programs offer a wellness class (Witmer & Granello, 2005).

Another argument for an emphasis on personal wellness of the counselor comes from a long tradition in counseling that says that the personal characteristics of counselors are vital to their ability to help others (Rogers, 1961). Hanna and Bemak (1997) argued that counselor effectiveness depends more on the personal characteristics of the counselor than on school, training, or theory. As Corey (2000) noted, "It is not possible to give to others what you do not possess" (p. 29). Because counseling is stressful for the counselor (Skovholt, 2001) and a lack of personal wellness may have an impact on a counselor's effectiveness with clients, it is important for counselor education programs to address personal development through wellness strategies during counselor training. However. few counselor education programs have a health and wellness focus, and there is a paucity of research identifying effective strategies for selecting students with higher levels of wellness, evaluating student wellness, or promoting the wellness of counseling students currently enrolled in counselor education programs (Myers, Mobley, & Booth, 2003).

Assuming that counselor educators want "well students" in their programs, there are some common dimensions of various wellness models (spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical, occupational, and social) that can provide a basis for a wellness philosophy in counselor education (Witmer & Young, 1996). By achieving and maintaining a greater sense of wellness, counseling students may enhance their personal growth and development, experience more satisfaction, and, as a result, remain better able to meet the demands of their training and future work environments by dealing more effectively with stress and anxiety, thus reducing impairment and burnout.