Sustainable Self-Care for Therapists: Protecting Yourself from Burnout

For LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, and pre-licensed associates (AMFTs, ACSWs, APCCs)
This complimentary 1 CE-hour self-study course explores therapist burnout as a core clinical competence issue rather than a wellness concern. It distinguishes burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma while introducing four pillars of sustainable self-care, along with practical self-assessment and action-planning tools.
Price
Free
CE's
1 CE

Training Format

Self-Study / Distance Learning (recorded video + written materials)

Total Instructional Time

70 minutes

CE Hours Offered

1 CE hour

Course Overview

This complimentary 1 CE-hour self-study course addresses what is arguably the most under-discussed clinical competence issue in our field: the sustainability of the therapist. Approximately 40-60% of mental health professionals report burnout symptoms across multiple meta-analyses. Therapists in trauma work show elevated rates of vicarious trauma. Burnout increases clinical errors, ethics complaints, and early career exit — making self-care a competence issue, not a wellness issue.

The course distinguishes burnout from compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, names why therapists are uniquely vulnerable, and offers four pillars of sustainable self-care: Physical, Emotional, Professional, and Meaning. Participants complete two solo exercises — a burnout self-assessment across the four pillars and a 30-day actionable plan. This course is offered as a complimentary sample of the Blossom Wellness Counseling CE library.

Blossom Wellness Counseling maintains responsibility for this program/course and their content.

Instructor: Jeanne Prinzivalli

Jeanne Prinzivalli - LMFT (License #52833) — Clinical Director & Director of Continuing Education, Blossom Wellness Counseling.

Jeanne Prinzivalli, LMFT, is the Clinical Director and Director of Continuing Education at Blossom Wellness Counseling in Los Angeles, where she has maintained a private practice serving adults since 2013. She holds an M.A. in Clinical Psychology (MFT track) from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her clinical experience spans community mental health, telehealth, forensic and parole-population work, trauma-focused outpatient care, and domestic-violence intervention. She integrates core belief work across orientations.
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Educational Goals

  • Build foundational understanding of therapist burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma as distinct experiences.
  • Recognize structural and personal factors that make therapists uniquely vulnerable to depletion.
  • Apply the four pillars of sustainable self-care to one's own practice.
  • Build a realistic, specific 30-day self-care plan.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Distinguish burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma in clinical presentation and intervention.
  • Identify at least three reasons therapists are uniquely vulnerable to occupational depletion.
  • Apply the four pillars (Physical, Emotional, Professional, Meaning) to a personal self-assessment.
  • Construct a specific, realistic, 30-day self-care plan tied to existing routines.
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