Counselor Self-care and Mindfulness

Abstract

In recent years, self-care has become the topic of much discussion within the helping professions. The goal of this article is to examine the issue of counselor burnout prevention through the practice of self-care. Mindfulness is recommended as one of the most well-studied and effective forms of counselor self-care, providing relief from the risk factors associated with burnout and enhancing protective factors. While counselor burnout, compassion fatigue, self-care, and mindfulness have all been well represented in the literature, this is the first paper to use the latest research to discuss all of these concepts as interrelated. This review is meant to be a call to counselors to practice self-care in the form of mindfulness, both for their own well-being and that of their clients. Suggestions for future research are discussed.