Date of Conferral

7-20-2026

Date of Award

July 2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Cynthia Briggs

Abstract

Within the counseling profession, African American women navigate unique challenges in the workplace, often experiencing microaggressions that contribute to stress, self-doubt, and emotional exhaustion. While systemic racial issues drive workplace microaggressions, counselor educators and supervisors remain ill-equipped to support African American women through the resulting burnout. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of African American women counselors to understand how microaggressions can lead to burnout and affect their psychological well-being. Guided by a transcendental-phenomenological qualitative framework, semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture participants’ experiences, exploring the lived experiences of African American women counselors who experience burnout due to microaggressions in their professional roles. The interview data were analyzed using Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenological method. Six themes emerged: (a) Workplace microaggressions: Chronic and normalized; (b) Professional devaluation and conditional belonging; (c) Silence and lack of protection; (d) Survival: Emotional suppression and psychological disconnection; (e) Burnout: Cumulative & Cognitively Draining; (f) Self-Preservation: Coping and Exit. The findings from this study can be used to create positive social change by highlighting challenges related to microaggressions and burnout, informing institutional and workplace policies, advocating for culturally responsive support, and promoting interventions to improve counselors' overall well-being.

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