Counseling Interventions and Resilient Workplaces: Psychological Strategies for Sustainable Growth

Dear Colleagues,

In a rapidly changing global landscape, organizations are increasingly challenged by economic instability, technological disruption, social inequities, and widespread burnout. As these uncertainties persist, there is a critical need for psychological strategies that support individual and organizational well-being. Counseling psychology, with its foundations in human growth, emotional resilience, and adaptive behavior, offers timely and transformative solutions.

This Special Issue, Counseling Interventions and Resilient Workplaces: Psychological Strategies for Sustainable Growth, aims to explore how counseling approaches can foster organizational resilience, promote employee flourishing, and guide sustainable growth during uncertain times. We invite contributions that integrate counseling theory, practice, and research to address real-world challenges in today’s workplaces.

Submissions may include empirical studies, conceptual papers, case studies, and reviews that highlight how counseling-based interventions can enhance psychological safety, emotional agility, leadership adaptability, and systemic well-being across sectors.

This Special Issue aligns with the aims of Merits, which centers on human resources, labor, people, and work. By positioning counseling at the heart of workplace sustainability, we aim to bridge academic knowledge with applied impact.

Suggested Themes:

• Counseling strategies for workplace stress, burnout, and recovery;
• Positive psychology interventions for employee well-being;
• Mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotional regulation at work;
• Counseling leadership in organizational change and transition;
• Trauma-informed approaches in the workplace;
• Mental health support programs (e.g., EAPs, group counseling);
• Inclusion, equity, and culturally responsive counseling in organizations;
• Psychodynamic and existential approaches to workplace meaning-making;
• The role of counselors in organizational development and policy.

We welcome interdisciplinary perspectives from psychology, HR, coaching, occupational health, and organizational studies.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Eirini Karakasidou
Dr. Panagiotis Parpottas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Merits is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• counseling psychology
• organizational resilience
• employee well-being
• workplace mental health
• burnout prevention
• positive psychology
• mindfulness at work
• leadership adaptability