Extreme Conditions Test Counselors Fatigue Dealing with Secondary Traumatization, Vicarious Traumatization, Compassion
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.~ / 105 -Lu Extreme conditions test counselors fatigue Dealing with secondary traumatization, vicarious traumatization, compassion BY MICHAEL DUBI, into neighboring states. Many JANE WEBBER AND had no personal belongings. Written and compiled by J. BARRY MASCARI Many were severely trauma- Scott Barstow, Christopher tized. Campbell and Brian Altman By the time Hurricane Katri- Counselors from all over the na left the Gulf Coast region of United States responded imme- Registration open for Louisiana, Mississippi and diately to provide mental health 2006 Legislative Institute Alabama on Aug. 30, it had and other services to persons Registration is now open for become the most destructive- -affected by-the hurricane. The the American Counseling Asso- and costly natural disaster in American Red Cross and other ciation's 2006 Legislative Insti- U.S. history. By Oct. 1, the offi- groups deployed more than tute to be held Feb. 26-28 in cial death toll stood at 1,242, 1,200 licensed mental health Alexandria, Va. The institute is and property damage was esti- workers to sites throughout the designed to educate and inspire mated to be in excess of $200 Gulf Coast. counselors to become legislativet' billion. According toArnesa A. How- advocates at the state and nation- Homeland Security Secretary ell, writing- for the American Chertoff described al levels. In addition, the event Michael Red Cross, mental health ser- Katrina as "probably the worst have been provided to an excellent opportuni- vices little or no time off. Many other provides or set of catastro- people Disaster response ty to meet the profession's cur- catastrophe more than 340,000 counselors added working with phes" the United States has by Katrina. conditions are challenging rent and future leaders. adversely affected evacuees to their normal work- ever experienced. Hundreds of number continues to Most disaster mental health , Counselors continue to face an This thousands of individuals fled increase nearly two months volunteers worked long shifts array of challenges and opportu- Continued on page 13 the affected areas and relocated later. every day for 14 to 21 days with nities in the policy area, making it imperative that we continue to grow the corps of counselor advocates. Legislative Institute of bill" . attendees will receive extensive Senate postpones consideration training in the policy-making process and will meet with their containing counselors' TRICARE provision physician During the week of Oct. 3, meribers of Congress to discuss BY SCOTT BARSTOW, BRIAN Mental Health Counselors remove the outdated Senate Armed Services Com- federal policy issues. Counselors ALTMAN AND BETH POWELL Association have been advocat- referral and supervision re- John Warner (R- attending the institute will ing for Licensed Professional quirement for counselors' ser- mittee Chair Va.) whittled down the long list The American Counseling Counselors to be granted inde- vices within the TRICARE pro- gram, which covers health care of proposed amendments to the Continued on page 20 Association and the American pendednt practice authority with- in the Department of Defense's for service members and their defense authorization bill to a PERIODICALS MAIL-NE NSPAPER HANDLING TRICARE insurance program families. The House of Repre- select few that would be either for many years. The Senate has sentatives passed its version of included in a collection of put off consideration of the Fis- the defense authorization bill, "manager's amendments" likely calYear 2006 defense authoriza- including a provision to remove to be approved en masse or tion bill after an attempt to the TRICARE physician refer- to be vted en masseidu allowed to be voted on individu- attach the bill to separate de- ral and supervision require- of the propoe fense appropriation legislation ment, months ago. The Senate's ally. Most were left off the failed due to broader procedural failure to pass its version of the amendments attempt to allow rela disagreements in early October. bill this late in the congression- table in an consideration of th r The defense authorization bill al session means that an autho- lively swift bill. The package Warne remains the most likely vehicle rization bill may not be eihacted for passage of legislation to this year. 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To order call 888-929-0276 FREE wwanceex DEMO! am M or order online at wwwnceexamcom 2 NEWSBRIEFS THIS ISSUE'S FEATURE ARTICLE SHORTS AND STATISTIC OF THE MONTH ACA releases updated chart AA IN ACTIO CACREP releases first draft on student-to-counselor ratio Exercise your voice in the Council for Accreditation of Coun- seling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards of students to school states - Louisiana, Vermont and Arkansas, Missouri and Wash- The ratio process. Visit www.cacrep.org/StandardsRevisionl Wyoming - fell within the rec- ington, D.C., each had a loss of revision counselors in U.S. elementary Text.html to download a copy of Draft No. 1 of the 2008 CACREP ommended ratio. The current between 100-250 school coun- and secondary schools has in- Standardsfor Accreditation. Information on how to provide feed- chart is based on the total number selors. Massachusetts and New creased slightly. The American back is also provided at the link. Feedback will be accepted on this enrolled in public ele- York had a loss of more than 800 Counseling Association's Office of students draft through Friday, Jan. 13. 2006. secondary schools school counselors each. Wash- of Public Policy and Legislation mentary and Please note that this is a multiyear process. CACREP plans to ington, D.C., public schools also recently updated its chart show- and the total number of "guid- adopt a final version of the 2008 standards by summer 2007. Your had a startling increase in its stu- ing both state and national stu- ance counselors" employed in comments on Draft No. 1 can have an impact on both the content ratio. The na- dent-to-school counselor ratios. public schools during the 2003- dent-to-counselor and format of the second draft, which will be released for addi- went from 243 The chart, based on recently 2004 school year. tion's capital tional comment in fall 2006. stu- released preliminary information While the overall number of school counselors for 76,166 school coun- from the U.S. Department of students enrolled in grades K-12 dents in 2002 to 60 ACA committee nominations needed Center for grew in size from the 2002-2003 selors for 78,057 students in Education's National The American Counseling Association will have a number of that school year, quite a few states 2003, raising its student-to-coun- Education Statistics, shows vacancies on its committees and task forces for the next fiscal showed a decrease in student selor ratio from 313:1 to 1,301:1, the U.S. student-to-counselor year, beginning July 1, 2006. If you would like to become more population. The number of coun- the worst in the nation. ratio stood at 488:1 in the 2003- involved in this important work of your association, you are invit- in some states The charts, including student- 2004 school year, up from 478:1 selors increased to volunteer for service by sending your name, address, phone to-counselor ratios for both ele- ed the previous year.