<p>The border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico has been considered the world’s most violent city (in 2010) yet the neighboring city of El Paso, Texas has been ranked the safest large city in the United States in recent years. The current exploratory study investigates burnout, secondary trauma and compassion satisfaction using the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI) and the Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 (ProQOL-5) in mental health professionals from Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. These preliminary results imply that overall burnout and secondary trauma are similar between mental health providers in El Paso and El Paso with the exception of counselors in El Paso reporting slightly higher levels of exhaustion.  It is hypothesized that shared cultural factors play a role in the similar levels of secondary trauma and burnout.</p>