Burnout in NSW School Counsellors: How do years of experience, career-sustaining behaviours and mindfulness affect burnout levels?

The purpose of the current study was to determine correlations between years of service and burnout experienced by members of the New South Wales Department of Education school counselling service in Australia. The benefits of participation in mindfulness and career-sustaining behaviours on levels of burnout in the sample were also explored. The 138 participants each completed a burnout inventory, mindfulness questionnaire and career-sustaining behaviours questionnaire. The participants were allocated to one of three groups: highly experienced, experienced or inexperienced. Results indicated that, as years of experience increased, levels of burnout decreased. Participation in some, but not all, facets of mindfulness were found to increase as years of experience increased. Participation in mindfulness and careersustaining behaviours were associated with lower levels of burnout. Spending time with a partner/family and maintaining self-awareness were the two careersustaining behaviours that were found to have the largest positive impact on levels of burnout. However, additional research in this area is required to further elucidate the types of career-sustaining behaviours that have the mostpositive impacts on burnout.