It has been a year like no other, bringing upheaval and uncertainty to professional counselors and their clients alike. It’s no wonder that many of 2020’s most-read articles at CT Online were on topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice. Other popular articles focused on helping clients with relationship issues, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental health diagnoses. Pieces that put a spotlight on practitioner confidentiality, compassion fatigue and other professional issues also attracted strong reader interest.
More than 150 articles were posted at ct.counseling.org in 2020. This year marks the first time that a majority of the top 10 most-read articles were online exclusives that did not appear in Counseling Today’s print magazine.
Some of the top search terms that brought people to the site included self-care for counselors, empathy fatigue, polyvagal theory, “Self-care for the activist counselor,” trauma-informed counseling and counselor burnout.
What were counselors reading in 2020?
Here are the most-read articles posted in 2020 at ct.counseling.org:
- “Uncovering the root cause of mother-daughter conflict” (Member Insights article, January magazine)
- “Recovering from the trauma of infidelity” (feature article, April magazine)
- “How do counselors support clients during the coronavirus pandemic?” (online exclusive posted in April)
- “The historical roots of racial disparities in the mental health system” (online exclusive posted in May)
- “Hey, Siri: Did you break confidentiality, or did I?” (online exclusive posted in January)
- “Deconstructing anxiety” (Knowledge Share, January magazine)
- “Solution-focused tools to help school counselors in a pandemic” (online exclusive posted in September)
- “Helping clients rebuild after separation or divorce” (online exclusive posted in March)
- “Overcoming free-time boredom during COVID-19: Combining a home-based optimal leisure lifestyle with behavioral activation” (online exclusive posted in July)
- “Living with — and beyond — OCD” (cover story, February magazine)
- “Black mental health matters” (cover story, August magazine)
- “A note of encouragement for counseling students during COVID-19” (online exclusive posted in April)
- “Counseling’s evolution under COVID-19” (cover story, June magazine)
- “Grappling with compassion fatigue” (feature article, September magazine)
- “The revised meaning of self-care in the wake of COVID-19” (online exclusive posted in August)
- “Bouncing back from ‘failure’ as a counselor” (feature article, March magazine)
- “Adjustment disorder in the time of COVID-19” (online exclusive posted in April)
- “Can you hear me now? Ways to reduce sound transfer between rooms” (online exclusive posted in February)
- “Engaging avoidant teens” (Knowledge Share, May magazine)
- “Putting first responders’ mental health on the front lines” (feature article, July magazine)
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What was your favorite article of 2020? What would you like to see Counseling Today and CT Online cover in 2021?
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