Social Workers Burnout

Social work professions need to understand the importance of how individuals interact both with other people and their environment, to have an understanding how individuals are affected by these interactions (Rogers, p. 2). According to Rogers (2016), “Social workers are knowledgeable about human behavior across the life course; the range of social systems in which people live; and the ways social systems promote or deter people in maintaining or achieving health and well-being. Social workers apply theories and knowledge from the liberal arts to understand biological, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development (p. 2). Their work with clients begins with assessments to evaluations of intervention and is based in and supports of the core value system of the profession.

 "Burnout is the index of the dislocation between what people are and what they have to do. It represents an erosion in values, dignity, spirit, and will...It is a malady that spreads gradually and continuously over time, putting people into a downward spiral from which it's hard to recover"(Maslach & Leiter, 1997, p.17). Burnout has also been associated with lack of feelings of personal accomplishment and significance. Those that enter clinical practice often do so because they are willing to sacrifice a larger pay scale in exchange for doing a job that gives them a sense of accomplishment. Many social workers enter the field with an idealistic view the impact that they will have on the lives of their clients. When this view

Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.

Social work could be a very stressful profession that leads to burnout. As an upcoming social worker I chose to read an article on preventing burnout in child welfare. The purpose of the article was to bring awareness to the fact that burnout is a serious problem in the child welfare field. Burnout is defined as failing, wearing out or becoming exhausted through excessive demands on energy, strength or resources. Another view is that burnout is alienation from the job, commonly evidenced by low job satisfactions and deterioration of performance.

Blau, Tatum, and Goldberg (2013) indicated that burnout has been studied in various mental health workers, including; case managers, psychologist, psychotherapist, social workers, rehabilitation counselor, and intensive care workers. Due to the nature of the field and high involvement with the others, mental health workers are likely to experience burnout (Sangganjanavanich & Balkin, 2010). Multiple job duties can cause unnecessary stress within the work environment when daily task is not managed properly among mental health professionals. In a survey completed by the American Counseling Association (ACA) 75.7% of mental health professionals that colleagues coping with burnout are significant threat to the profession of counseling (Puig, Baggs, Mixon, Park, Kim, & Lee, 2011). Of those professional, 63.5% indicated that they are aware of colleagues who cope with burnout (Puig, Baggs, Mixon, Park, Kim & Lee, 2011).

One reason emotional distress is an issue in social work is because social workers deal with emotional exhaustion. According to Marglin, burnout is the natural emotional exhaustion that results from spending forty or more hours per week giving to others and forgetting to take care of themselves (Marglin). Social workers give most of their time to their patients and not enough time to themselves. This causes them to lose sleep and it makes their health go down. They worry too much about the cases they have and that is also a result of emotional exhaustion, they will spend sleepless nights thinking about the children or adults they are dealing with and they think about the things that are being done. Often

Social Work is a helping profession that strives to help the community on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. It is an investment of self to offer services and help to those in need. Areas of service can include, but are not limited to, traumatic situations, family situations, and child protection. As in most social service professions, the field of social work can often times take a toll on the emotional and physical stability of a social worker. One side effect from working in a helping profession is compassion fatigue. As a result, the National Association of Social Workers stresses the importance of self-care and its vitality in ensuring the social worker does not get burnt out by the profession.

Social workers work at many levels, including policy work. If we are going to change something, sometimes the policy behind it needs to be looked out. When it comes to addiction we need to take a long look and then speak up. Social workers have the ability to advocate and influence change in many ways. They could go to the capitol and talk to elected officials. They could hold workshops and invite the public to educate them on addiction. They could take part in research that could be used in the future. They could talk to their clients about these issues. The ways they could do it are endless. Vaughn and Perron (2013) suggest three way: be the social change agent by use harm reduction while educating the public about it, offer alternatives

Employees of social service agencies are subject to a highly stressful work environment with demanding expectations. Due to recent changes to healthcare reform in the United States, there are more people in Los Angeles with health care coverage now seeking treatment for physical, emotional and mental wellbeing, leading to rising caseloads for local social service agencies. This means that community demands are increasing and workers take on more client’s, deadlines, and increased accountability. This study seeks to explore employee perception of the job requirements at social service agencies in regards to the demands, organizational support and satisfaction.

What a week you had a field placement. Your supervisor made an interesting comment, “stay in Social Worker role”. I had to reflect upon this statement and wonder if this meant to stay professional and not to allow emotions effect the situation. Just as you, I have no way of knowing what was meant by this confusing statement. When the events of this week calm, will ask your supervisor what was meant by the statement or will you opt to leave the situation alone? I am familiar with and intrigued with the Johari Window model, yet have never utilized the model. One of the key components of the model is build trust by disclosing information about yourself to others. I, personally, I have a difficult time opening up to strangers or others

Becoming a master’s level social worker would enable me the credentials and opportunity to do what I want as a macro social worker. In order to get a career in this field you really need to have a master’s in order to be taken seriously and to get the position you want. I really want to work with an agency on an administration level developing programs and grant fundraising. Creating a program to fill the needs of others is something that I am passionate about along with changing policies that hinder clients.

When people are not engaged or satisfied in something which would benefit and enable to improve their situation such as employment training, then a person’s sense of life satisfaction is affected. Encouraging a high level of life satisfaction in SWB would be essential in introducing relevant policy that would work towards improving a population’s situation in life. For example, relating this to social work practice, it is well documented that there is a risk in working in social work of professional ‘burnout’ (emotional exhaustion, reduced performance), more so than many other careers. Researchers consider burnout to be a job-related stress condition or even a “work-related mental health impairment” (Awa et al. 2010, p. 184). This means that social workers are more likely to experience ill health as shown in the studies conducted by Siebert (2005, pp. 25 - 44). In this study 751 respondents, 36% scored in the high range of emotional exhaustion linked to burnout or stress related concern due to their role in social work. SWB measures would be an effective

The overall theme presented throughout the literature and past research studies is that workplace stress is a major issue and health concern, particularly within the social worker profession. Stress is a correlating factor to job satisfaction, promotions, growth, and applicable resources within the culture of the organization (Pindek & Spector, 2016). Stress can occur as a positive reaction to make an individual work harder, but it can be a negative experience that drives an individual to burnout, depression, and anxiety. Literature shows that there are different strategies or interventions that can reduce or help eliminate workplace stress, but there is limited data that shows a consistent strategy.

This is, of course, the case with social work. Although the emotional and financial rewards are good, dealing with crisis all the time can be emotionally draining. It is important to have a good work-life balance and find some strategies for coping with stress efficiently and constructively.

The potential problem of social workers and lawyers/magistrates or judges working together is that social worker might not be mindful of legal expectations and requirements (Kennedy & Richards, 2007). The roles and functions of lawyer and social worker are very dissimilar as well as their histories, cultures and rituals (Kennedy & Richards, 2007). Lawyer’s purposes are limited and tangible so they find it difficult to understand that social worker’s purposes are not (Rice & Day, 2014). Social workers find law as a part of their solution but not the complete resolution of the problem (Dickens, 2008). Their main goal is to pursuit equitable access to social, economic, environmental and political resources (Kennedy & Richards, 2007). Law