Counselor Education Doctoral Student Supervisors' Preparedness to Address Indirect Trauma: Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Vicarious Trauma

Hearing the painful stories of clients (indirect trauma) has been described as an occupational hazard for professionals working with trauma survivors and is becoming more common among mental health professionals. This might include counselors struggling with intrusive thoughts and having flashbacks of victimization, counselors viewing the world as an unsafe and unpredictable place, and/or counselors experiencing a loss of ability to empathize with clients. Clinical supervision is documented as an effective strategy to reduce the adverse effects of indirect trauma symptomology. A signature component of most counselor education and supervision doctoral programs is the training and preparation of students to provide clinical supervision. This study's purpose was to understand doctoral student supervisors' preparedness to recognize indirect trauma symptomology, even when not reported by the supervisee. Five counselor education doctoral students participated in this qualitative, instrumental case study. This study found that counselor education doctoral student supervisors can identify indirect trauma, but they do not know how to address it. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews, which revealed seven themes. Implications for counselor education doctoral programs and supervisors and future research are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]