The irony is real: those most dedicated to supporting others' mental health and wellness often find themselves struggling to protect their own.
Counselors, teachers, and others in the helping professions face unique psychological challenges that can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma. Yet the counseling profession continues to offer stable and highly meaningful career opportunities. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 17% job growth for mental health counselors through 2034, much faster than the national average.
For current practitioners, and those considering careers in the helping professions, learning how to safeguard your mental health isn’t just a good personal goal — it’s a good professional goal too. Research shows that counselors who prioritize their own well-being actually provide more effective care and maintain longer, more fulfilling careers. The key lies in committing to intentional strategies for self-protection while building the resilience needed to thrive in this emotionally demanding work.
Mental Health Challenges Facing Counselors Today
Working in counseling and other helping professions exposes practitioners to psychological risks that can extend beyond typical workplace stress. Compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout, for example, all can occur when counselors are exposed to and absorb their clients’ traumatic experiences, leading to side effects ranging from physical and emotional exhaustion to experiencing symptoms that mirror those of the direct trauma survivors.
Further, the day-to-day realities of counseling work today can compound these challenges. Higher than recommended caseloads, administrative burdens, and systemic underfunding can create environments where counselors feel overwhelmed and undersupported. In U.S. schools, for example, the current average student-to-counselor ratio is 376-to-1, higher than the recommended 250-to-1 ratio set by the American School Counselor Association.
To overcome these challenges, counselors and others can look to one or more common strategies and techniques designed to help support their well-being, and seek out the resources that work best for them.
Strategies for Protecting Counselor Mental Health
Set and Maintain Professional Boundaries
Effective boundary-setting forms the foundation of sustainable counseling practice. This can involve managing caseloads to prevent overextension and establishing clear work hours to protect personal time.
Practical boundary-setting strategies include:
- Limiting after-hours client contact
- Scheduling breaks between sessions
- Clearly communicating your availability to clients and colleagues
- Managing caseload size to prevent overextension
Develop Healthy Detachment Without Losing Empathy
One of the most challenging aspects of counseling work can be caring deeply while maintaining professional objectivity. This balance requires differentiating between what some researchers call “empathic concern” (which focuses on the client) and “empathic distress” (where the practitioner turns their focus inward).
Effective techniques for healthy detachment include:
- Regular self-reflection and mindfulness practices
- Conscious monitoring of your own emotional responses, particularly during “use of self” sessions
- Visualization exercises that symbolically leave work at work, such as imagining placing client concerns in a container at the end of each day
Build Strong Professional Support Networks
Isolation can amplify the mental health risks inherent in counseling work. Professional connections, on the other hand, provide both practical resources and emotional support that can make the difference between thriving and merely surviving in counseling careers.
Key professional support resources include:
- Regular supervision and participation in peer consultation groups
- Professional associations such as the American Counseling Association
- Continuing education programs
- Professional development and networking events
- Mentorship programs and mentor relationships
In Maryland, for example, organizations like the Maryland Counseling Association and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors of Maryland (LCPCM) offer networking opportunities, continuing education, and peer support specifically designed for local counseling professionals.
Prioritize Personal Self-Care Practices
Self-care for counselors and other helping professionals should extend beyond occasional spa days to include comprehensive and regular wellness practices.
In an article in the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment in 2019, Lisa D. Butler identifies six areas of self-care for those in the helping professions:
- Physical: Regular exercise, adequate sleep, proper nutrition
- Psychological: Mindfulness, stress management
- Emotional: Personal therapy, creativity, self-reflection
- Relational: Engaging in relationships, hobbies, interests
- Spiritual: Meditation, prayer, time in nature
- Professional: Boundaries, taking breaks, continuing education
Regular physical activity, for one, has been shown to reduce stress and improve mood regulation, while mindfulness meditation, even briefly, has been shown to reduce symptoms of compassion fatigue among helping professionals. Social connections outside of work have also been shown to provide perspective and emotional support that can buffer against job-related stress.
Building Resilience Through Professional Development and Advanced Education
Of course, while self-care strategies help provide day-to-day comfort and support, professional development programs and graduate programs can offer deeper, more systematic approaches and resources for building long-term resilience.
The Johns Hopkins School of Education’s master’s in counseling, for example, gives students access to an existing support network of school districts and mental health organizations as part of the program, and offers guidance in areas like professional orientation and ethical practice, career development, and research and program evaluation. Students learn to support each other and build skills collaboratively through small group projects and applied learning at local community or school-based sites.
For aspiring teachers looking to build mental resilience as part of their graduate work, the Johns Hopkins’ TeachingWell master’s program stands out due to its focus on student support both during and after the program, including built-in instructional coaching, personal wellness programs, faculty mentoring, and networking opportunities.
Depending on your place of work and other factors, additional resources can include employee assistance programs, personal therapy programs, and continuing education programs focused exclusively on self-care and resilience.
Investing in Your Professional Future and Knowing When to Seek Support
Protecting your mental health as a counselor, teacher, or any helping professional requires ongoing vigilance and self-awareness, and seeking additional support isn’t a sign of weakness.
Warning signs of burnout include persistent exhaustion, cynicism about your work, feeling emotionally numb, and experiencing symptoms that mirror those of your clients.
“As counselors, we invest a lot of our time, energy, and emotions in working with others. Deeply listening to others and helping others untangle their wired thoughts is an art,” notes Madhuri Govindu in Counseling Today. “We bring the best out in others as we remind them of their positivity, strengths, and resilience. But amid this process of healing others, we mustn’t forget to listen to our needs as well.”
Remember that safeguarding your mental health can only enhance rather than detract from your professional effectiveness as well. In other words, in a profession dedicated to healing, your own wellness is both a personal necessity and a professional asset.
Learn more about the Johns Hopkins MS in Counseling, the Johns Hopkins’ TeachingWell master’s program, and register for an upcoming information session to discover how you can support both your professional goals and your personal well-being today.
