The topic of self-care comes up frequently in social services. Perhaps because case workers are in the most empathetic profession of all. They deal daily with human frailty and willingly accept responsibility for the plight of the less fortunate. They bear society’s burden for the suffering of the marginalized and feel the pain of the innocent who don’t understand why they are suffering. Social workers suffer along with their clients when they are unable to wave a magic wand and erase the pain that circumstances inflict on little children, single mothers, mentally ill homeless, confused elderly, and those facing life’s certain end alone.
Enthusiasm to Frustration
Only decent, caring souls willingly take on the enormous financial burden of a college education to become a social worker. They start their first agency job filled with willing enthusiasm eager to meet and help their first client. The second, fourth, fifteenth, and thirty-fifth clients follow rather quickly because the need is endless but available social workers are limited. Research reveals that the average social worker begins to feel overburdened within six months. Burn out is further down the road, but frustration has already begun to set in.
- The paperwork is more than new case workers bargained for and begins to feel like an unnecessary bureaucratic burden that keeps them overtime day after day.
- Most clients’ problems are not neatly resolved and although more clients continue to come, existing clients linger sometimes endlessly.
- Administration is usually working toward a slightly different agenda leaving young naive social workers abandoned to their idealistic goals.
- Mistakes are made that often unintentionally harm rather than heal a client.
- The more efficient a talented young social worker is the more work he/she will be asked to handle until the burden becomes unbearable.
Self-Care Comes First
Dedicated case workers usually get to “self-care” after they begin to demonstrate symptoms of “burn-out”, (a combination of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion). “If you’re demonstrating symptoms of ‘burn-out’ you are already near exhaustion. You may have to take time off to begin the program of ‘self-care’ you should have been advised to begin at the start of your career,” said one social work professor we talked to. “Professional burn-out is like heat exhaustion. If you can feel the symptoms, you’re already in danger.”
At the Beginning
Avoiding “burn-out” is the key; not curing it. To avoid ever burning out, new social workers must adopt self-care principles. They should be taught primary self-care principles in school before they undertake their first client interview.
- Do Not Overwork - Set a reasonable work schedule and stick to it. Do not let enthusiasm become a disease or kindness a vice.
- Value Personal Relationships - Remember how valuable your family and friends are to your emotional stability and mental health. Do not neglect them.
- Avoid the God Complex - You cannot solve all the world’s problems. Remember the Biblical caution: Pride goeth before the fall. Learn to say NO.
- Seek Help - From the outset, ask your colleagues for help. Speak with people in your line of work about work. This simple act reminds you that you don’t have all the answers. Humility may save your life.
- Value Effort Not Results - You are here to help your clients, not to solve all their problems.
At The End
“This is my 28th year in social work. I’m still here happily helping people. As I look back, I can’t remember many of the outcomes for individual clients, but I can never forget working with each of them. The simple fact that I am here to help in any way that I can is what has kept me going all these years, not the outcomes. My advice is to focus on what you’re doing and do it the best you can. The rest will take care of itself. It really is the effort, not the result.”
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Tips for Motivating Case Managers with Job Burnout
