School Counselors’ Challenges with Shared Earthquake Trauma During the Counseling Process: The Wounded Healer

Abstract Following large-scale disasters such as earthquakes, which constitute forms of collective trauma affecting millions of individuals and communities simultaneously, research remains limited regarding the challenges experienced by wounded healers —counselors who share traumatic experiences with their clients—during the counseling process. The purpose of this study was to explore the professional challenges encountered by school counselors who, as members of the same affected community, experienced trauma similar to that of their clients within a context of collective trauma. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 23 school counselors exposed to shared and collective post-earthquake trauma. Thematic analysis revealed three primary themes. The first theme, “Empathy–Sympathy Cycle,” captures the oscillation between empathy and sympathy that counselors experience when working with clients under conditions of shared and collective trauma. The second theme, “Self-Disclosure Continuum Impacts the Collective Healing Process,” describes how counselors’ own traumatic experiences may lead to increased self-disclosure, resulting in blurred professional boundaries. The final theme, “The Wounded Healer’s Increasing Need for Professional Support,” emphasizes the heightened necessity of professional support systems for counselors working within collective trauma contexts to safeguard both counselor well-being and therapeutic effectiveness. The findings provide important implications for policy development and institutional support mechanisms aimed at addressing the unique professional challenges of counselors working in settings characterized by shared and collective trauma.