Burnout or Brighten Up – Stress and Burnout in Social Work

Level: Advanced Practice – Line Worker

Credits: 6

Intended Audience: New and current child welfare personnel who want to develop a clear understanding of stress and burnout and how to manage each

Intended Objectives:

• To review the principles of and contributors to stress
• To understand the necessary approach to our wok to avoid burnout
• To grasp the phenomenon of “compassion fatigue” and its’ impact on professional practice
• To outline the relationship between compressed change and stress
• To examine the role of personal style on the stress experience
• To explore the role of perception in both creating and relieving stress
• To look at the role of the work environment in contributing to stress
• To learn to look for the signs and symptoms of personal stress
• To develop a plan to reduce personal stress and prevent compassion fatigue and burnout

Topics Include:

• Principles of stress management and burnout prevention
• “Compassion fatigue” or secondary trauma
• Stress and change
• Personal Stress symptoms and assessment
• Stress remedies
• Personal stress management plan

CalSWEC Competencies Addressed:

3.6 Student is aware of his or her own emotional responses to clients in areas where the student’s values are challenged, and is able to utilize the awareness to effectively manage the client-worker relationship.

5.1 Student effectively negotiates with supervisor and professional colleagues, systems and community resources to further accomplish professional, client, and
agency goals.