Elements of Supervision in Sexual Violence Counselors' Narratives: A Qualitative Analysis
✍ Scribed by Carol A. Sommer; Jane A. Cox
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 2005
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 88 KB
- Volume
- 45
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0011-0035
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The literature on vicarious traumatization has suggested that traumasensitive supervision may help to minimize the effects of vicarious exposure to trauma; however, nothing from the perspective of trauma counselors was noted. The present qualitative study involved 1 male and 8 female sexual violence counselors who had worked with sexual violence survivors from 1 to 9 years. The use of semistructured interviews and basic interpretive analysis revealed 4 themes: counselor feelings, vicarious traumatization, helpful qualities of supervision, and organizational considerations.
Individuals exposed to life-threatening situations, such as rape, are at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder and may seek professional counseling to help them deal with the aftermath of trauma. The mental health professionals who work with these trauma survivors are then vicariously exposed to traumatic situations. Current studies indicate that vicarious exposure to trauma via work with traumatized clients might lead to trauma symptomatology within mental health professionals, known as vicarious traumatization (Chrestman