- Burnout "was introduced to refer to a phenomenon observed among human service workers who had to deal with emotionally demanding individuals." (pg. 7)
- Definition of burnout: "Maslach and Jackson's...definition of burnout has three components: emotional exhaustion (feelings of being overextended and depleted of emotional and physical resources), depersonalization or cynicism (negative or excessively detached responses to various aspects of the job), and diminished personal accomplishment (feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement at work)." (pg. 7)
Luckily, I have not yet reached the point of depersonalizing clients... but how far off am I really? I think I am going to start keeping a check on this every time I discuss a client. Is there really a need to lash out because a client is not quite in a healthy place? These little personal checks are really helpful.
Finally, though I feel that I have been well-trained and am well-prepared to meet the challenges of work, I often struggle with "making a difference". As a developmental therapist and a service coordinator I am charged with coordinating concrete services for families and connecting them with basic necessities at the same time as working towards a development plan. These are two separate full time jobs! And how can a mom who is struggling to survive even begin to worry about whether their child is talking properly? These are sincere questions that keep me up at night. Maybe there aren't answers. I know a few things. If I were not there, or perhaps if my position did not exist, there would be unmet needs. Yet I return again and again to this question: "Is there something more I could be doing?" How do you all reconcile these issues? How do you all find peace when you cannot fix the world?
If you have an answer, you might be able to make a lot of money and fix the turnover in the social worker industry, so don't hold back!
That's so helpful, Robin! I find that I am often much more frustrated with the system (whether those are cycles of poverty or DSS, etc) than the actual client. In the past four years I've had to make "I've done the best I can" my mantra... otherwise I would beat myself up way too much. I remember how we talked about our frustrations with the system and that's why you've chosen to "go macro", so to speak. I've thought a lot about that, actually, and I think the reason why I've decided to "go clinical" is two-fold. A, I want to work with social workers so that they do not burn out and that they begin to realize that which we struggle with... doing the best we can with what we have. B, I can't wait to get in there and have the opportunity to counsel individuals, isolated from the cacophony of daily life, and to work on specific tools so that they, too, can work to help change the system! To form... an alliance if you will? I'm excited about this and about our fantastic coalition we've built so that we no longer have to feel helpless in a difficult and seemingly impossible system!!!!!!!
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