Exploring self-care experiences of school counsellors: A qualitative study

Abstract

School counsellors are responsible for maintaining their well-being to provide quality service for the students. Self-care activities are the best way to preserve and enhance the well-being of counsellors. In this vein, this study aimed to discover the self-care experiences of school counsellors employing a qualitative approach. Fifteen licensed school counsellors (eight of whom were female) from various schools in Turkey participated in the study. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. The data analysis was carried out with an inductive thematic analysis approach using NVivo 11 software. The results of the study are presented under four interrelated themes which are self-care practices, improved wellness, increased productivity in schools, and barriers to self-care. Findings of the study are discussed based on literature and a number of suggestions are presented for future studies of researchers and practitioners.

Keywords

self-care activities burnout prevention well-being thematic analysis school counsellors

School counsellors are responsible for a wide range of tasks, such as individual counselling, group counselling, creating and implementing school counselling programs, and consulting with the school principal, teacher, and parents. They also support students’ academic, social-emotional, career development, occupational choices, and university transitions, as well as their overall personal and social development (American School Counsellor Association [ASCA], 2021; Corey & Corey, 2020; Turkish Ministry of National Education [TMNE], 2020). In addition to multiple job responsibilities, school counsellors are frequently asked to do non-counselling duties, such as clerical and administrative roles due to role ambiguity (Kim & Lambie, 2018; Lambie, 2007; Maor & Hemi, 2021). These wide work demands and heavy workloads, as well as limited coping resources and inadequate professional supervision, increase the stress level of school counsellors (Lambie, 2002; McCarthy et al., 2010).

Long periods of stress might lead to a lack of professional satisfaction (Moracco et al., 1984) and burnout (Lambie, 2007; Maslach, 2003), and result in a decrease in the quantity or quality of services performed (Maslach, 2003). Burnout could cause several mental and physical health issues including headaches, muscle discomfort, and depression among school counsellors. (e.g., Vlăduţ & Kállay, 2010). Mullen and Gutierrez (2016) reported that burnout among school counsellors had a direct detrimental impact on the student service they provided. In the end, burnout has negative effects on school counsellors, students, classmates, parents, and the educational system as a whole.

Since it is highly important to prevent stress and burnout the ASCA (2016) ethical standards state that school counsellors must protect their physical and mental health and care for their wellness in order to work effectively. Likewise, The American Counseling Association's (ACA, 2014) ethical standards note that counsellors have an ethical responsibility to assess their emotions of burnout and practice self-care activities to preserve and enhance their own psychological, spiritual, mental, and physical well-being to provide quality service to their clients. As a result, school counsellors need to employ self-care practices to deal with the consequences of stress and burnout. Therefore, it is important to reveal the experiences of school counsellors regarding self-care activities.

Several existing literature, several studies have been conducted on school counsellors’ stress (Mullen et al., 2017; Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016), burnout (Arslan, 2018; Fye et al., 2020; Wilkerson, 2009), compassion fatigue (Levkovich & Ricon, 2020; Wells, 2004) and vicarious traumas (Parker & Henfield, 2012). However, the number of studies addressing school counsellors’ self-care experiences is quite limited (e.g., Fannon 2021; Sylvester-Nwosu, 2020). For instance, Fannon (2021) reported that self-care practices of full-time school counsellors in the United States, such as mindfulness relaxation, self-compassion, and purpose, supportive connections, and supportive structure, were negatively related to stress and burnout. Sylvester-Nwosu (2020), on the other hand, discovered a significant association between self-care behaviors, years of job experience, and burnout levels among school counselors in the Mid-Atlantic area of the U.S. Moreover, the literature on counselling self-care requires deeper understanding to reveal the experiences of school counsellors which could be reached by qualitative methods. Therefore, the current study aimed to enlighten the experiences self-care of school counsellors by applying qualitative method. In this regard, it is expected that the study would fill a gap in the literature.

Conceptual framework

Counsellors work in a one-way caring culture (Guy, 2000; Wise et al. 2012), where they are responsible for supporting clients in achieving their mental health objectives (Corey & Corey, 2020). However, they face a variety of emotional and personal challenges, which can have a negative influence on their quality of life and professional effectiveness (Bradley et al., 2013). Paradoxically, while supporting clients to improve their well-being, practitioners frequently neglect their own needs (Barnett et al. 2007; Wise et al. 2012), and self-care is typically deferred to the end of a to-do list of the practitioners (Posluns & Gall, 2020). This negligence may cause negative consequences that harm the counselling practices resulting in stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, impairment, and vicarious trauma (Bamonti et al., 2014; Killian, 2008; Lawson et al., 2007; Mullen et al., 2017; Posluns & Gall, 2020). In fact, self-care is a fundamental part of the helping profession, human need, a clinical requirement, and an ethical responsibility rather than luxury (Guy, 2000).

Self-care is a comprehensive term that refers to any measures that reduce stress, anxiety, and emotional responses experienced by counsellors when working with clients (Williams et al., 2010), as well as activities that promote or sustain their well-being (Eckstein, 2001). According to Skovholt (2001), self-care entails finding ways to refresh oneself and focus on developing feelings of enjoyment, peace, enthusiasm, excitement, happiness, and pleasure. Self-care encompasses a wide range of behaviors adopting healthy living habits (e.g., nutrition, sleeping, and exercise) and bridging a balance between personal and professional responsibilities. Recognizing indicators of distress and receiving social support, including mental and other health assistance, are regarded as essential for self-care (Barnett & Cooper, 2009).

There are numerous distinct self-care practices and dimensions in the existing literature (Corey & Corey, 2020; Guler & Ceyhan, 2021). For instance, Butler et al. (2019) proposed six interrelated self-care dimensions including physical, relational, professional, psychological, emotional, and spiritual to synthesize empirical findings in the literature. Furthermore, Posluns and Gall (2020) noted areas of self-care that need to be developed, such as balance, flexibility, awareness, physical health, social support, and spirituality. Guler and Ceyhan (2021) also created a multi-dimensional self-care structure consisting of physical, relational, professional, cognitive-emotional, and spiritual dimensions, for counsellors. In the end, all models and dimensions of self-care aim to ensure counsellors’ maximum and effective performance.

As previously noted, self-care tends to not only prevent negative consequences among mental health providers and their clients but also enhance their well-being (Wise et al., 2012). The benefits of self-care practice in increasing positive results such as decreased stress symptoms (Steinlin et al., 2017), quality of life (Goncher, et al., 2013), well-being (Richards et al., 2010; Steinlin et al., 2017), compassion satisfaction (Alkema et al., 2008; Killian, 2008), professional well-being (Dorociak et al., 2017), and job satisfaction (Acker, 2018) have been well documented in the literature.

School counselling services in Turkey

Counselling and guidance services are offered by school counsellors in Turkish educational institutions (TMNE, 2020). School counsellors are the only professionals providing psychological services in the schools in Turkey and professionals such as educational psychologists, school psychologists or school social workers are not employed. School counsellors are employed in the majority of Turkey's schools and the Ministry of National Education Guidance and Psychological Counselling Service Regulation defines the responsibilities of school counsellors (Sevinc et al., 2012). School counsellors perform the duties related to developmental and preventive services, therapeutic services, and support services in educational institutions (TMNE, 2020). However, as in many other countries (e.g., Maor & Hemi, 2021; McCarthy et al., 2010), school counsellors in Turkey face challenges such as heavy workloads, non-counselling responsibilities, clerical and administrative duties, role ambiguity, and difficulties with parents (Guler & Ceyhan, 2020; Parmaksiz & Gök, 2018; Sevinc et al., 2012).

The present study

In sum, the importance of self-care practices in the lives of mental health professionals is empirically supported. Based on this empiric evidence, researchers and professional counsellors recommend each counsellor to discover their own personal strategies for self-care in order to maintain and improve their well-being (Bradley et al., 2013; Corey & Corey, 2020). However, in the counselling literature, there is limited empirical research that guides these suggestions. Self-care practices used by school counsellors and other experiences shared in relation to self-care in school counselling professions have been the subject of a small number of studies (e.g., Caple, 2018; Evans & Payne, 2008). Hence, the purpose of the present study was to extensively explore the self-care experiences of school counsellors, who are mental health providers. Revealing these experiences of school counsellors might shed light on the measures to be taken to prevent school counsellors’ burnout, enable policymakers to make more informed/wise decisions, and inform future research. Consequently, the following research questions were asked to discover self-care experiences of school counsellors:
What kind of self-care strategies do school counsellors employ?

What impacts do self-care strategies have on school counsellors’ personal and professional lives?

What challenges do school counsellors face when implementing self-care strategies?

Method

Design

This study adopted a qualitative research approach to discover the experiences of school counsellors’ self-care behaviours using semi-structured interviews.

Participants

A total of 15 school counsellors (eight of whom were female) from various schools in Turkey participated in the study. The research group was selected using a maximum diversity sampling strategy (heterogeneity) as one of the purposeful sampling methods. This strategy is to investigate whether there are any common or shared features among the various situations. The common patterns that arise from more variety have a unique significance since they capture core experiences and shared dimensions (Patton, 2014; Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2013). Thus, participants varied in terms of characteristics such as gender, age, education level, working experience, working school level, and working in different provinces or regions of Turkey (see Table 1).

Table 1.
Characteristics of participants.

School counsellor* Gender Education level Working experience Working School-level**

SC1 Female Master's degree 6 years Primary school

SC2 Female Master's degree 5 years Secondary school

SC3 Female Doctoral degree 16 years Secondary school

SC4 Female Ph.D. candidate 6 years Secondary school

SC5 Male Doctoral degree 19 years High school

SC6 Male Bachelor's degree 14 years Secondary school

SC7 Male Master's degree 7 years High school

SC8 Male Bachelor's degree 7 years High school

SC9 Male Ph.D. candidate 16 years Primary school

SC10 Female Master's degree 14 years Primary school

SC11 Female Bachelor's degree 5 years Primary school

SC12 Male Bachelor's degree 2 years Primary school

SC13 Male Bachelor's degree 2 years Secondary school

SC14 Female Bachelor's degree 8 years Secondary school

SC15 Female Bachelor's degree 10 years Secondary school

Note: *Codes of participants (SC1, SC2,…SC15); **The Turkish education system is categorized into three stages, in 12 years compulsory education. The first four-year primary school (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades), the second-level four-year secondary school (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades), and the third-level four-year period considered high school (9th, 10th, and 11th grades and 12th grade).

Procedure and data collection

Firstly, ethical approval of the study was obtained from Necmettin Erbakan University Social and Human Sciences Scientific Research Ethics Committee. Afterward, prospective participants were informed about the purpose of the research and the topics to be addressed in the interview. Following that, interviews were conducted with 15 school counsellors who volunteered to participate in the interview, via online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet or Whats App. The data gathering process was maintained until data saturation was reached, at which point no new themes or codes ‘emerged’ from the data (Braun & Clarke, 2021). The data collection process lasted about three months (from July 2, 2021, until September 27, 2021).

Online interviews have the advantages of being cost-effective, geographically accessible, and user-friendly, but they also have the disadvantages of potential time-lag or other technological issues, which can disrupt the flow of discussion, and ethical concerns (Saumure & Given, n.d.). Interviews were recorded using a digital audio recorder. At the beginning of each interview, a verbal informed agreement was obtained to record the conversation.

Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. After an extensive literature review on counselling self-care, the researcher created a semi-structured interview questionnaire form. The questions were evaluated by three academics with Ph.D. degrees in the field of counselling, and the questions were updated based on their recommendations. Then, with the participation of five school counsellors, a pilot application was performed to make sure if the questions were comprehensible. Each interview included the following questions: (i) What do you do when you are stressed out or burned out? What strategies do you employ to enhance your well-being? Could you tell me about your own experiences? (ii) How do you feel after implementing self-care strategies? What changes have you noticed in yourself? Could you describe your experiences? (iii) How do self-care strategies affect your professional life? What kind of changes do you notice in your professional life? (iv) What challenges do you face when applying self-care strategies? What are the obstacles you are up against?

Analysis

The thematic analysis (TA) method guided by Braun and Clarke (2006) was used to explore the self-care experiences of school counsellors in depth. TA is a technique for analysing and interpreting qualitative data by identifying meaningful patterns (themes) (Clarke & Braun, 2017). TA provided advantages of flexibility and theoretical freedom. The themes and sub-themes in the data were identified by adopting an inductive approach. An inductive approach is a type of data-driven TA in which the data is coded without trying to integrate it into a pre-existing theoretical framework or the researcher's analytic assumptions (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

The analysis of the data was conducted with two coders by following the six steps proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006): First, the data was reviewed and reread by the coders to become familiar with the data after the interviews were transcribed, and the initial ideas were recorded. Second, initial codes were created from the entire dataset. Each coder noted down significant words, metaphors, notions, and concepts during the initial coding. Third, initial codes were addressed by coders and organized into possible themes. The coders had online meetings throughout this step. Fourth, all of the coded data extracts and themes were reviewed for coherency and correctness by coders. Any disagreements amongst coders were addressed and discussed until reaching an unanimous decision. Fifth, for each theme and sub-theme, final definitions and names were developed. The thematic structure was formed in this step, with four primary themes and 22 subthemes. In the final step, the data have been scientifically reported, with quotations to back it up. The Nvivo 11 software was used during the analysis of the data.

The trustworthiness of the study

Several techniques including credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were applied to increase the study's trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2013). In order to ensure credibility, two coders independently coded all data and discussed emergent themes and codes until they reach a consensus. In addition, many stages of the study were subjected to expert opinion (e.g., the development of a data-collecting tool, the evaluation of topics and categories), and member-checking procedures were used. Twenty percent of the participants were asked for their opinions about the research results for member-checking. To establish transferability, all analysis processes and conclusions were reported, direct quotes from participants were presented, and the maximum sampling approach was applied. To improve dependability and confirmability, theoretical knowledge and biases are bracketed via regular feedback and communication.

Findings

Four main themes and 22 sub-themes emerged from the inductive thematic analysis (Figure 1). The four main themes contained: (i) Self-care practices, (ii) improved wellness, (iii) increased productivity in schools, (iv) barriers to self-care. These themes and sub-themes are elaborated in this section using direct statements from school counsellors to better reflect on participants’ perspectives. The code names given during the analysis were used in quotations from school counsellors: SC1, SC2,…, SC15.

Figure 1.
Emerged themes and Sub-themes.

Theme 1: self-care practices

All school counsellors claimed that they utilize a variety of self-care strategies to cope with professional burnout and the stressors they encounter at school. In this context, most school counsellors find release in indoor or outdoor physical activities such as walking, pilates, and swimming. SC14, for example, stated that her burnout management strategy: “I love going on a walk. Going on a lonely nature walk is incredibly calming for me, especially when I’m feeling burned out in my personal and professional life”.

Spending time with family or friends and sharing problems mutually is another method often employed by school counsellors, which is coded as the relational sub-theme. In this context, SC5 expressed his experience as follows:

When I’m stressed, for example, I tell my wife. My wife is also a counsellor. We share our experiences as we have a broad common ground. This also relaxes us. It makes us feel relieved. This is perhaps the most effective strategy for making me feel comfortable.

School counsellors pointed out cognitive-emotional activities as one of the most effective self-care practices. SC11, for example, emphasized that receiving counselling support helped her to feel some good improvements in cognitive and affective aspects, using the following statements:

For me, starting therapy was a critical step. In other words, it was a period in my professional life when I began to express myself clearly, stop doing most of the unnecessary things, and began to focus on solely the tasks that I am required to do. I was told by teachers and friends that I’ve been progressively changing. This was a beautiful thing for me.

According to some school counsellors, professional activities such as peer supervision and professional development training are one of the most efficient methods to prevent burnout and cope with the problems they face in schools. SC3 presented his experiences on this issue as follows:

Peer support and supervision are really helpful. I contact and consult with my colleagues who I believe are more experienced or have dealt with similar difficulties. Besides, the hypnosis training I received previously was very useful. At this point, I can confidently state that it effectively removes the impediments. The publications and websites I have read about Cognitive Behavior Therapy are also helpful in comprehending my borders. I am removing barriers.

Other self-care practices used by a number of school counsellors include spiritual activities, art and hobbies, and travel. SC3 described his artistic experiences: “I began to create mandalas and paintings. This time, I purchased a canvas and paints. On my own, I make some doodles. I used to stitch flower patterns. I used to dye fabrics in my free time”. SC13 noted that he is attempting to follow religious activities: “I also try to focus on my spirituality. I am a Muslim who is trying to adopt a Muslim lifestyle. I keep performing prayers five times a day, I read the Qur’an and tafsir with my wife when I feel exhausted”. SC1 indicated that traveling was beneficial to her wellness:

I participate in activities that will distract me, such as making a travel plan and a trip. For example, if the weather is sunny, I go to the beach, swim. If it's cold, I make a culture trip like Nevşehir tour depending on the season. I generally make plans to stay in a city for a while.

Theme 2: improved wellness

School psychologists pointed out that the self-care practices they adopted increased their well-being in terms of physical, emotional and spiritual, social, mental, and intellectual. The most mentioned well-being sub-theme by school counsellors was emotional and spiritual. SC3 shared her thoughts on it by saying:

I feel like I’ve been reborned. It transforms my despair, negativity, and hopelessness into optimism. It is like they are given the colour of my life back as if a rainbow from my existing grey state. I do not know how to describe it, but they definitely heal me. My negative feelings are being neutralized and transformed into positives. The pain of the negative emotions that I am holding disappears.

The majority of school counsellors reported that their social networks had grown, they had met new people, and they had begun to build stronger relationships with their family and friends thanks to their self-care activities. They can be more patient, tolerant, and considerate towards others as a result of using self-care strategies, which help them relax and reduce their stress. SC15 noted concerning this theme:

In my family, I have fewer conflicts with my husband. Because I’ve given up expecting something from him. I used to want him to spend time with me while I was not setting aside enough time for myself. I used to want him to make me feel valued as I don't value myself. When I begin to aware of my personal value, my expectations from him also started to lower, and thus our disputes are reduced. It applies also to my relationship with my children. I’m becoming a more active, tolerant, and patient mother.

Some school counsellors, on the other hand, reported that they felt more relaxed physically. For example, SC9 emphasized the changes he felt physically by saying:

I start feeling as if all of my nerve ends of my body have been removed, and I feel like a soften flesh. Physically, all of my somatic pains have been disappearing, and I am feeling relieved. If I have a headache, for example, it goes away, or when I feel foot pain, it disappears. In other words, all the somatic residues in my body have been vanishing.

Self-care activities, according to some of the school counsellors, have a positive effect on mental well-being. Regarding this sub-theme, SC1 said that:

I feel at ease and relieved as I start performing these activities. I feel my mind is clearer. It is more beneficial for me to spend time for myself, to ponder and decide after performing sports, especially when I am thinking about a subject.

In addition, SC12 stated that the following intellectual improvements had occurred in his experience:

In fact, I feel I have higher potential. I’ve realized that I’m capable of more than just counselling. I’m not sure whether these are my skills. However, I am attempting to combine these activities with counselling. I’m attempting to include movies into the school schedule. I feel like I could accomplish more at this point.

Theme 3: increased productivity in schools

Self-care practices, according to school counsellors, promote motivation, concentration, counselling abilities, and self-confidence in the school setting, and thus, make a significant contribution to professional productivity. Motivation is the most prominent sub-themes in this theme. SC10 expressed her experiences about it by saying:

As a result, I can better save my energy for the following day, so that I can be more energetic. When I leave all my thoughts aside and fully relax my mind, I mentally feel more prepared to live the next day. I conduct my counselling sessions more confident.

The second sub-theme emphasized by school counsellors is counselling abilities. Self-care practices are regarded by school counsellors as a short break, and they claim that these breaks help them improve their counselling skills. SC9, for example, said that his awareness of students’ problems increased as a result of these essential breaks he was better able to evaluate students’ narratives as follows:

My self-awareness decreases when I am supposed to fulfil several professional tasks in a sequence. I mean, I can't see what's right in front of me because of the fact that the huge cloud of professional information becomes a blindfold. However, those breaks allow the information to be refreshed and give such distance so that I become a foreign observer towards the information. Breaks enable me to give my attention after a short recovery. When I return, I can better analyse my client's narrative with a fresh understanding.

Some of the school counsellors reported that they were more concentrated on their work. For instance, one of the school counsellors, SC4 described her experiences:

Walking, for example, enables me to sleep effectively and deeply. I am able to fall asleep easily because I am more relaxed. I’m able to focus more on my work. Physically, this relaxation is reflected in my work life. It improves my ability to concentrate at work.

Furthermore, one of the school counsellors highlighted that self-confidence increased thanks to self-care strategies. In this vein, SC15 said: “My self-confidence increases whenever I take a deep breath and relax before starting my work. I’m getting back into planning and scheduling. That's why it has had a significant impact on my self-esteem.”

Theme 4: barriers to self-care

Self-care activities have positive impacts both on school counsellors’ professional lives and their personal lives. However, counsellors’ self-care practices may be disrupted by factors such as heavy workload, administrative and non-counselling duties, role ambiguity, family responsibilities, lack of time, and unrealistic expectations. The majority of school counsellors stated that the main challenge is a heavy workload. Excessive tiredness from schoolwork, energy depletion, or bringing work to home causes them to postpone or abandon self-care activities. SC14 has expressed her challenging experiences:

Also, since I work in a busy school, my work does not end when I leave school. I always have to keep attending remotely WhatsApp group meetings or Zoom meetings. My work shift doesn't finish until midnight. Finding the resting time or time for other activities is very difficult.

One of the obstacles that school counsellors frequently encounter is family responsibility. They indicated that they might neglect self-care activities in order to prioritize their duties to their spouses or children. For instance, SC7 stated: “I am married and the father of a child. I have to spend time with my wife and my son. We sometimes have conflicts if my plan of sportive activities or a friend meeting overlap with the family time.”

Some school administrators may regard school counsellors as part of the administrative team and may entrust them with administrative and non-counselling tasks beyond their own responsibilities. This situation would increase their workload and cause further challenges. SC15 described her difficulties with school administration as follows:

The headmaster usually demands extra works. He assists us to do tasks that are not within our working responsibilities. His expectations from school counsellors are quite high. He behaves with us as if we are in his management team. He wants us to take further responsibilities. According to him, because we don't have a formal class session. So he thinks we can manage to work more in other administrative parts of the school.

Similarly, school counsellors’ flexible job descriptions might lead to role ambiguity and higher demands from them. In this context, SC2 mentioned that her difficulties arise from role ambiguity:

The most challenging part of the counselling for me is the huge undefined area which left to counsellor's initiative. So, nothing is clear and defined with borders. Everything is very flexible. As such, the demands of people never end. If you don't know the job description precisely, it's really challenging.

Another issue that prevents school counsellors from engaging in self-care activities is lack of time due to job and family duties. SC4, for instance, noted the obstacles related to a lack of time:

When I think about the past before pandemic, we had much less time for activities. For example, I was not able to go for a walk every day. Intense working times may disrupt your personal activities. I see tiredness due to a lack of time as obstacles.

Lastly, school counsellors might be an impediment for themselves to self-care practices. SC3, one of the counsellors who has high expectations from herself, voiced dissatisfaction with this situation:

My work always should be perfect. Even a little error annoys me. Since I focus on quality, duration of completion of task is 2 − 3 h longer the others who finish it in a short time. Yes, it appears that something perfect come out as result, but I feel exhausted at the end. I’ve become unable to allocate spare time for myself. It has a significant disadvantage. It's in fact, related to my intolerance of making mistakes.

Discussion

School counsellors’ experiences with self-care practices used to avoid burnout, manage some stressors and maintain overall functioning were explored through semi-structured interviews in this study. The experiences of school counsellors are characterized by four main themes: Self-care practices improved wellness, increased productivity in schools, barriers to self-care. All of these themes, which reflect the experiences of school counsellors, are closely related to each other.

The results of the study indicated that school counsellors use a wide range of self-care practices in daily life similar to suggested strategies in the existing literature (e.g., Butler et al., 2019; Guler & Ceyhan, 2021; Williams et al., 2010; Wise et al., 2012). Among these strategies, the most commonly emphasized ones in the literature are physical and psychological health, relationships, spirituality, balance, professional self-care, and mindfulness. Self-care practices reported by the school counsellors in this study included physical, cognitive-emotional, professional, relational, spiritual, art and hobbies, and travel. Furthermore, the intentional implementation of various self-care strategies by the school counsellors can imply that they have awareness of personal self-care. However, the study conducted by Guler and Ceyhan (2020) with school counsellors in Turkey revealed that their awareness of the importance of self-care was low and their self-care activities were insufficient. These differences may stem from the characteristics of participants. In fact, more than half (8 persons) of the school counsellors involved in the study are concerned with their professional development and participate in postgraduate education.

Self-care practices reported by the school counsellors in this study have similarities with those identified in existing empirical studies. For instance, Myers and Sweeney (2004) identified five self-care activities as the key part of healthy functioning in their evidence-based model of wellness: spirituality, self-direction, work and leisure, friendship, and love. Furthermore, this study has revealed similar results to previous studies undertaken with counsellors in other countries. In a qualitative study conducted with New Zealand high school counsellors, Evans and Payne (2008) showed that developing a resilient mindset, collegial support (for example, supportive settings in their schools, supervision), and balance in work and family life has a substantial influence on counsellors’ well-being. Another study with Malaysian counsellors carried out by Abdullah et al. (2012) reported that counsellors have their own preferences of self-care strategies and implement five aspects which are physical, mental, spiritual, social, and environmental in self-care. However, unlike in previous studies, school counsellors in this study employ strategies such as participating in professional training programs and getting counselling.

The current research also showed that self-care practices had a favourable influence on the personal and professional lives of school counsellors. These results are addressed under two themes including improved wellness and increase productivity in schools. Related to the improved wellness theme specifically, participants noted an improvement in their physical, emotional and spiritual, social, mental, and intellectual well-being. This finding supports existing research that examines essential components that enhance the well-being of the mental health professions (e.g., Guler & Ceyhan, 2021; Lawson & Myers, 2011; Richards et al., 2010). The findings might also be employed to emphasize the significance of self-care in reducing burnout symptoms and psychological impairment among counsellors. In this vein, the review of the literature suggests that fostering areas of self-care can help prevent burnout (Killian, 2008; Ko & Lee, 2021), stress symptoms (Steinlin et al., 2017), vicarious trauma (Flint, 2018), and compassion fatigue (Killian, 2008).

Besides, participants reported an improvement in motivation, concentration, counselling abilities, and self-confidence in their school setting under the increased productivity in schools theme. These results imply that counsellors’ self-care and burnout have conflicting impacts. In other words, whereas burnout leads to professional impairment in the provision of services (Corey & Corey, 2020; Maslach, 2003; Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016; Mullen et al., 2017), self-care increases professional performance (Butler et al., 2019; Cummins et al., 2007; Posluns & Gall, 2020). Furthermore, Stevanovic and Rupert (2004) and Acker (2018) demonstrated that a higher number of self-care practices were associated with higher job satisfaction. In this context, Butler et al. (2019) stressed the importance of self-care for the therapist, the treatment, and the client.

Although self-care activities provide numerous benefits for school counsellors, they sometimes face barriers that restrict them from doing self-care activities. Heavy workload, administrative and non-counselling duties, role ambiguity, family responsibilities, lack of time, and unrealistic expectations are among the barriers noted by study participants. Similarly, Guler and Ceyhan (2020) found that school counsellors in Turkey encounter comparable issues, including unmet professional expectations from school administrators and teachers, problem behaviour of parents and students, poor self-efficacy, and job ambiguity. However, existing literature addresses these barriers as a source of stress and burnout (e.g., Arslan, 2018; Kim & Lambie, 2018; Maor & Hemi, 2021; McCarthy et al., 2010). Therefore, the results of the current research point out the reciprocal interaction between school counsellors’ self-care and burnout.

Limitations, implications, and future research

While the current study enlightens experiences of self-care practices of school counsellors in Turkey, it also has some limitations due to the method utilized, which must be taken into account when interpreting the results. First, the sample of the study is limited to merely 15 school counsellors in Turkey. Larger samples, such as people from other cities/countries and various professional backgrounds, may be incorporated in future studies. Furthermore, as the participants’ subjective experiences were revealed, generalization appears to be another typical limitation of qualitative research. Future research may also consider employing quantitative, mixed-methods, and/or longitudinal methods to expand the self-care literature. Another suggestion for future research would be to conduct a self-care intervention for practicing school counsellors utilizing a pretest-posttest design to measure effectiveness.

Most of the school counsellors who participated in the study have awareness of self-care practices and thus benefit from self-care activities in many aspects of their lives. However, a similar study conducted by Caple (2018) with school counsellors from various states across the U.S. revealed that the majority of the participants have low awareness of self-care practices and suffer from job dissatisfaction, feelings of occupational stress, and burnout. Therefore, it is important to increase awareness for all school counsellors about self-care behaviour. In this sense, understanding of self-care and abilities in many areas (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.) should be included in the curriculum of counsellor education in undergraduate and graduate programs in all countries to encourage prospective counselling candidates.

The majority of school counsellors in this study face obstacles that prevent them from engaging in self-care activities. Most of these obstacles are caused by the school settings, such as excessive workloads, administrative and non-counselling duties, and role ambiguity. Likewise, studies conducted in a variety of countries noted that school counsellors encounter similar challenges (e.g., Caple, 2018; Maor & Hemi, 2021; McCarthy et al., 2010). Hence, policymakers may take some precautions such as identifying the boundaries of school counsellors clearly in the regulations, developing self-care policies, and organizing seminars, and training for school administrators to enable them better understand counselling to prevent these challenges.

Conclusion

The focus of this research was to gain greater insight into school counsellors’ personal experiences with self-care. Based on the personal experiences of school counsellors who were interviewed, the study assessed their self-care within four categories, including self-care practices, the consequences of self-care practices on private and professional life, and encountered self-care barriers. Emerging themes showed that school counsellors employ a variety of self-care strategies to manage stress, burnout, and some difficulties, as well as to enhance their overall well-being. Additionally, it has been discovered that school counsellors who apply these self-care practices have improved their professional productivity, and positive changes have occurred in many aspects of well-being. Yet, obstacles they face in schools or their personal life may make it harder for school counsellors to implement their self-care practices. As a result, this study enlightens the self-care experiences of school counsellors in detail.

School counsellor*	Gender	Education level	Working experience	Working School-level**
SC1	Female	Master's degree	6 years	Primary school
SC2	Female	Master's degree	5 years	Secondary school
SC3	Female	Doctoral degree	16 years	Secondary school
SC4	Female	Ph.D. candidate	6 years	Secondary school
SC5	Male	Doctoral degree	19 years	High school
SC6	Male	Bachelor's degree	14 years	Secondary school
SC7	Male	Master's degree	7 years	High school
SC8	Male	Bachelor's degree	7 years	High school
SC9	Male	Ph.D. candidate	16 years	Primary school
SC10	Female	Master's degree	14 years	Primary school
SC11	Female	Bachelor's degree	5 years	Primary school
SC12	Male	Bachelor's degree	2 years	Primary school
SC13	Male	Bachelor's degree	2 years	Secondary school
SC14	Female	Bachelor's degree	8 years	Secondary school
SC15	Female	Bachelor's degree	10 years	Secondary school

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr. Tolga Seki for his valuable contributions to this study during the thematic analysis process.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

This research was given ethical approval by the University of Necmettin Erbakan, Social and Human Sciences Scientific Research Ethics Committee [REF: 2021/26].

ORCID iD

Zeynep Şimşir Gökalp

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