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By Jonathan Revels, LCAS

July 2025

Compassion fatigue is a serious concern for professional counselors and their clinical supervisors. Due to their work with vulnerable populations, counselors may experience burnout, vicarious trauma and emotional exhaustion. They may also experience boundary violations, inappropriate behaviors or even abuses of power that damage team dynamics and client care.

Compassion fatigue, which progresses in distinct stages, can significantly erode one’s emotional, mental and physical well-being. As fatigue takes hold, it often manifests in the workplace, affecting relationships with clients and colleagues.

A counselor might worry that compassion fatigue or burnout could end their career, but it doesn’t have to. Counselors can learn to recognize early signs, seek appropriate support and implement self-care strategies.

Impact of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout

Compassion fatigue often results in decreased productivity, avoidance of responsibilities and heightened stress, which can cause tension with supervisors and managers. Symptoms include feelings of anxiety, depression, physical discomfort and a profound sense of disconnection from work, which may lead a counselor to doubt their professional role and purpose.

Burnout involving vicarious or secondary trauma can lead to exhaustion, depersonalization and feelings of inadequacy. When burnout happens, the counselor can experience negative attitudes toward work and a sense of not doing well or not being effective in their job. A counselor experiencing vicarious or secondary trauma may avoid specific situations or be hypervigilant.

How Compassion Fatigue Progresses

Compassion fatigue doesn’t overwhelm counselors all at once — it progresses through four distinct stages:

• Stage One: The Zealot Phase: The counselor is highly enthusiastic, deeply involved and willing to go above and beyond. They often volunteer for extra duties and complete tasks without needing direction.
• Stage Two: The Irritability Phase: A triggering event at work causes the counselor to begin withdrawing from others, avoiding interactions and losing interest in volunteering for additional responsibilities.
• Stage Three: The Withdrawal Phase: The counselor’s energy and enthusiasm significantly decline. They experience exhaustion, struggle to maintain work-life balance and begin projecting their irritability onto colleagues and clients.
• Stage Four: The Zombie Phase: The counselor becomes emotionally and physically absent, blaming clients for mistakes and work failures while directing hostility and frustration toward teammates.

Early Identification

Counselors and their clinical supervisors can lessen the effects of compassion fatigue in several ways. The first level of defense is recognizing the symptoms, which may be subtle initially. The counselor may identify their overall emotional exhaustion and reduced empathy. They may feel drained, overwhelmed and less compassionate for clients and teammates. They may also experience increased irritability and negative thoughts about their work. Lastly, the counselor may socially isolate themselves and decrease or stop self-care activities.

Self-Care and Support Systems

Once symptoms are recognized, the counselor can collaborate with their clinical supervisor to develop a plan. The first step is to acknowledge a problem exists. The counselor initially presents the plan by advocating for their clinical supervision. During this identification period, the clinical supervisor may pose challenging questions about how the counselor recognized this problem and how to proceed with their professional development. The counselor should emphasize their need for a self-care plan, which can include recognizing the signs that are emotionally and physically draining them. Additionally, the counselor should understand self-care is not selfish. Counselors may feel guilty about taking time for themselves, but self-care is essential for longevity in the field.

Counselors can also establish appropriate work-life boundaries. This may include saying no and setting limits with teammates. Counselors can advocate for support from their organization, such as paid time off, mental health days and employee assistance programs. Finally, counselors should minimize toxic relationships and surround themselves with people who uplift and support them.

Supervisory Support

The primary protective factor against compassion fatigue is a relationship in which the counselor feels safe and supported by their clinical supervisor. Supervisors can cultivate this relationship by offering sufficient clinical supervision, which includes giving feedback, conducting live supervision and promoting the counselor’s professional development.

Supervisors can also provide effective clinical supervision through trauma-informed practices, which involve a comprehensive understanding of trauma and its effects across various settings, services and populations. Additionally, supervisors can adopt a culturally sensitive perspective to recognize how individuals experience and process trauma.

By recognizing early signs, building robust support systems and prioritizing self-care, counselors can prevent burnout while maintaining emotional and professional well-being. Clinical supervisors are essential in providing guidance and fostering a safe, supportive environment that empowers counselors to manage the demands of their work. Through proactive measures and a strong support network, counselors can combat compassion fatigue and continue to provide invaluable care to those in need.