Doctoral Students Balancing the Roles and Relationships of Counselor Education

Aspiring counselor educators in Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP)-accredited programs must learn to be counselors, teachers, supervisors, researchers, and leaders. These roles can overlap, creating multiple complex relationships during their programs. To examine these roles, we conducted a constructivist grounded theory investigation of how counselor education doctoral students (n = 9) balanced multiple roles and relationships and boundary crossings. We utilized chain referral sampling and continued until we reached theoretical saturation. We used semi-structured interviews conducted via videoconferencing (Zoom) for data collection and coded the interviews using two main phases: an initial phase and a focused coding phase. We used member checks by sending participants preliminary findings for feedback. The resulting theory describes two distinct stakeholders in the management of the multiple roles and relationships in counselor education: the students and the program. Students were responsible for balancing roles and responsibilities while considering professional growth, ethics, and boundary setting. The program was responsible for providing a growth-fostering environment and mentorship. Ultimately, the process of navigating multiple roles and relationships (MRRs) involves early discussion of MRRs, intentionality of program placement, assistance with boundaries and ethical decisions, and exposure to remediation and gatekeeping

Predictors of burnout for immigrant mental health professionals in the United States

Mental health professionals who identify as immigrants encounter personal and professional barriers that can impact overall wellbeing. The current study conducted a survey of 108 licensed mental health professionals who identify as immigrants practicing in the United States. The survey included demographics as well as assessments of burnout, social support, and migratory grief and loss. The results of this study highlighted that a combination of higher migratory grief and lower perceived social support significantly predicted higher levels of burnout in mental health professionals. Implications for mental health programs, supervisors, and mentors and suggestions for future research are provided

Exploring the relationship between secondary traumatic stress professional

This study used a correlational research design to explore the relationship between secondary traumatic stress, counsellor professional identity and career factors, including work setting and amount of counselling experience, among counsellor practitioners. A sample of 1,218 counsellors completed an online survey including the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), Professional Identity Scale in Counseling and career factors. Career factors included context of work environments including years of experience, licence status, type of practice and work setting. Multiple regression analysis with forward selection demonstrated that, out of all the variables, professional identity emerged as the best predictor of secondary traumatic stress. One-way ANOVA showed significant group differences in the level of counsellors\u27 secondary traumatic stress based on work setting, level of experience, type of practice and gender. Discussion explores how career and personal factors impact counsellor experiences of professional identity and secondary trauma in mental health settings

Life After Death: A Narrative Exploration of Near-Death Experiences

Death awareness and near-death experiences initiate shifts in awareness, priorities, and relationships. This narrative inquiry explored the stories of four individuals who had near-death experiences. Participants shared their experiences before and after the experiences. Findings include considerations of how mortality awareness connects with life experiences. Resonant threads across narratives included Interactions with Death, Life after Death, and Meaning in Life after Death. Specifically, findings explore near-death experiences, how life was changed following interactions with death, and the meaning-making process through death awareness. Findings and discussion explore the impact of death awareness as well as considerations for those in death and trauma-related fields

Professional Development Needs in a Predominantly Rural State

Mental health professionals working in rural states experience significant challenges in supporting the mental health needs of their community members. Thus, it is imperative for the professional organizations that serve these practitioners to understand their professional development needs. Members of professional organizations seek to ensure a competent and healthy workforce. In the present study, the researchers focused on identifying the training needs, interests, and preferences of mental health professionals, including professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers in Wyoming. A statewide needs assessment completed by 258 participants indicated a strong need for ethics, trauma, and addictions training using accessible formats, including online webinars and annual conferences

Counsellors\u27 lived experiences of empathy & compassion: An interpretive phenomenological inquiry

Empathy and compassion are critical elements in counselling presence and practice. The present interpretive phenomenological study explored counsellor lived experiences of empathy and compassion. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis, findings highlighted how counsellors experience compassion and empathy, how boundaries shape wellness and practice with clients, and the impact of empathy and compassion over a career. The findings suggest that self-other differentiation is key while using empathy to develop a strong therapeutic alliance and counsellor self-care. Implications inform how counsellors can maintain wellness and learn to foster empathy and compassion in practice

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Altres ajuts: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); Illumina; LifeArc; Medical Research Council (MRC); UKRI; Sepsis Research (the Fiona Elizabeth Agnew Trust); the Intensive Care Society, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (223164/Z/21/Z); BBSRC Institute Program Support Grant to the Roslin Institute (BBS/E/D/20002172, BBS/E/D/10002070, BBS/E/D/30002275); UKRI grants (MC_PC_20004, MC_PC_19025, MC_PC_1905, MRNO2995X/1); UK Research and Innovation (MC_PC_20029); the Wellcome PhD training fellowship for clinicians (204979/Z/16/Z); the Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track (ECAT) programme; the National Institute for Health Research, the Wellcome Trust; the MRC; Cancer Research UK; the DHSC; NHS England; the Smilow family; the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (CTSA award number UL1TR001878); the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740); the National Institute on Aging (RC2 AG036495, RC4 AG039029); the Common Fund of the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health; NCI; NHGRI; NHLBI; NIDA; NIMH; NINDS.Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care or hospitalization after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes-including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)-in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease