Call it chronic work stress or compassion fatigue, burnout typically happens when social workers devote so much time and energy to taking care of their clients that it results in the neglect of their own mental and emotional well-being. Social workers are known for dealing with a routine of crushing, back-to-back caseloads. Many social workers spend most of their time among the communities they work with rather than in an office. They tend to be responsible for making an impact in immediate ways, whether attending court hearings, meeting with clients in their homes, supervising family visits, or advocating for their clients’ needs on the local, county, state, and national level.
It’s incredibly easy for social workers to feel overwhelmed by a rotating schedule of traumatic events, lacking resources and, sometimes, a sense of guilt at their inability to fully meet the demands of their many vulnerable clients.
Burnout is incredibly common in social work. In one survey of 1,000 practicing social workers, 34% self-reported a current state of burnout and 75% reported dealing with burnout at some point in their careers. In the same study, researchers found that while 7.8% of the general population experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over a lifetime, 15% of the social workers surveyed met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD within the week before being surveyed.
More and more social workers are feeling tired and lonely at work. The more exhausted they are, the more isolated they feel, setting a cycle in motion that leads to feeling ashamed about their work. An experienced social worker who began to burn out after 24 years on the job described the experience like this:
"At first, I started to depersonalize from my clients, not “caring” about their situations as well as blaming them and everyone else for their problems. I isolated myself from colleagues and avoided participating in departmental meetings. Coworkers commented that they missed seeing me smile and hearing me laugh. Most importantly, I no longer felt passionate about my work and became disenchanted with the system as a whole."
Sound familiar? In cases of burnout, a lack of patience can often result in irritability, manifesting in feelings of ineffectiveness or uselessness, disappointment over a dip in productivity, worsening performance, or the sense that you're not able to do things like you used to.
Emotional Inventory
Experienced social workers who have suffered the emotional ups and downs that go with the profession, advise taking a constant emotional self-inventory. “Don’t get used to feeling exhausted and frustrated with everything and everybody, telling yourself it goes with the job. That's heroism that leads to collapse. By recognizing the signs of burnout in yourself, you’ll be able to take action and minimize its effects on your work and life."
Emotional Self-Inventory:
Experienced social workers who have struggled with depression and burnout shared the following insights:
The battle that social workers wage every day against injustice takes its toll. Do not be reluctant to seek help when the burden begins to weigh you down.
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