The Role of Social Support in Counselors' Responses to Client Adverse Events

Throughout the past several decades, research regarding counselor resilience has shifted from a pathology-based to a strengths-based approach. As a result, researchers have moved away from primarily identifying risk factors and now focus on protective factors. Researchers have found that social supports serve as a protective factor in counselor resilience. However, there is a lack of understanding of how counselors receive that social support, specifically after a professional adverse event. Professional adverse events are common given the nature of counseling work. For example, undesirable occurrences such as client suicide, attempted suicide, life threatening illnesses, accidents, overdose, or loss of a child are considered professional adverse events. This study explored how ten professional counselors experienced social support following professional adverse events. Three themes emerged from these counselors' stories: difficulty seeking support, misplaced support, and acts of kindness. Implications for counselors include honoring both confidentiality and their own humanness, the cultivating co-regulating relationships, and reinforcing acts of kindness. Counselor educators and supervisors can foster counselor resilience by using the implications to teach counselors how to invite effective social support.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Education, Community College

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Fitzgerald, Jenna Rae

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Welfare, Laura E.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Filer, Kimberly Lynn
• Farmer, Laura Boyd
• Lawson, Gerard Francis

• Social Support
• Professional Adverse Event
• Resilience

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:21887

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/102263