Development and piloting of a self-care psychoeducation program for mental health professionals
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Background: Trauma counselors are exposed to sustained emotional demands and indirect trauma, which may increase the risk of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. Although self-care is recognized as an important component of ethical professional practice and has increasingly been examined as a potential protective approach, structured self-care interventions for in-service trauma counselors remain limited. This qualitative study aimed to develop a multidimensional self-care psychoeducation program for trauma counselors and to explore participants' experiences and perceptions during the piloting of the program. Methods: The study was conducted in two interrelated phases within a qualitative research framework. In Study 1, a needs analysis was carried out with 11 trauma counselors to inform the development of a seven-session self-care psychoeducation program. In Study 2, the program was piloted with 17 trauma counselors over seven weeks. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and session journal entries and analyzed using content analysis. Results: The needs analysis revealed prominent experiences of secondary traumatic stress and emotional exhaustion, as well as limited knowledge of self-care approaches despite the use of individual coping strategies. Participants described increased self-awareness of multidimensional self-care and reflected on cognitive-emotional, physical, spiritual, relational, and professional aspects of self-care throughout the pilot program. Participants also reflected on their perceptions of professional resilience and self-care habits. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary insights into trauma counselors' experiences of participating in a multidimensional self-care psychoeducation program. Participants perceived group-based experiential learning, reflective practices, and peer support as valuable components of the program and described these experiences as contributing to their understanding of self-care strategies. These findings suggest that multidimensional self-care psychoeducation represents a promising area for further research. Future studies employing more rigorous designs are needed to examine the effectiveness and longer-term impact of such programs.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Institution: TED University
Language: English
Topic: Stress and Burnout Research
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7214101006