Secondary traumatic stress and coping among school counselors: A qualitative approach

The main aim of this thesis was to explore the experiences of school counselors who work with trauma. For this purpose, it was investigated how the participants were affected while working with traumatized students and what coping methods they used in the face of these effects. In the study, phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative approach types, was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 school counselors working with traumatized students. In the analysis of the interviews, " MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020" qualitative data analysis program was used. Six themes emerged from the obtained data, These themes are; sources of trauma that are difficult to work with, sources of stress, reactions to working with trauma, emotions felt while working with trauma, the effects of working with trauma cases and methods of coping with trauma. According to the results of the research, school counselors work with many types of trauma, but they have the most difficulty while working with cases of neglect and abuse. School counselors' having a history of past trauma and empathizing with traumatic cases have been identified as risk factors for experiencing secondary traumatic stress. It has been determined that school counselors are more affected by traumatic events in the first years of their profession. School counselors experience feelings such as sadness, anxiety, helplessness, happiness and inadequacy while working with trauma. It has been observed that school counselors' working with trauma has positive effects (being sensitive, feeling strong, having a positive perspective, being grateful) and negative effects (decreasing confidence in people, pessimistic and skeptical approaches towards life). According to the results of the research, it is critical that school counselors who work with traumatic cases receive training, supervision and therapy.