Date of Conferral

12-8-2025

Date of Award

December 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Shelli Friess

Abstract

As caseloads increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, counselors experienced a shift to telehealth counseling and double exposure to trauma and pandemic elements. Some counselors experienced symptoms of vicarious trauma (VT). A gap in the literature existed regarding the interaction of the pandemic among clients and counselors’ experiences of VT symptoms. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the lessons learned by capturing the stories of counselors who experienced VT symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research question concerned the retrospective experiences of counselors who self-reported experiencing VT symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven licensed professional counselors who experienced symptoms of VT while providing counseling for a minimum of 2 months during the COVID-19 pandemic completed semistructured interviews. John Dewey’s theory of learning, which served as the study’s conceptual framework, informed the creation of full narratives for each participant. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Labovian structural analysis to identify the beginning, middle, and end of the narratives. Additionally, the six parts of Labovian story structure—(a) the , (b) orientation, (c) complicating action, (d) evaluation, (e) result, and (f) the coda of a story—were identified. Two recommendations are (a) to promote reflective storytelling as a form of self-care for counselors after working through a shared crisis and (b) to not pathologize survival responses. The implications for positive social change include the promotion of practices and policies that acknowledge the ethical obligation for counselors to be well and act in a beneficent manner for clients, in a state of wellness.

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