Cultivating Professional Resilience in Direct Practice

A Guide for Human Service Professionals

Jason M. Newell

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780231544900
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Trabajo social

Overwhelming empirical evidence indicates that new social workers, particularly those going into child welfare or other trauma-related care, will discover emotional challenges including the indirect or secondary effects of the trauma work itself, professional burnout, and compassion fatigue. However, the newly revised CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) does not mandate the inclusion of content related to self-care in social work curriculum or field education. In a textbook that bridges the gap between theoretical and pragmatic approaches to this important issue in human service work, Jason M. Newell provides a potential resolution by conceptualizing self-care as an ongoing and holistic set of practice behaviors described as the key to professional resilience.

To address the effects of trauma-related care on direct practitioners, Newell provides a comprehensive, competency-based model for professional resilience, examining four key constructs—stress, empathy, resilience, and self-care—from a range of theoretical dimensions. For those who work with vulnerable populations, the tendency to frame self-care solely within organizational context overlooks the importance of self-care in domains beyond the agency setting. Alternatively, he uses a framework grounded in the ecological-systems perspective conceptualizing self-care as a broader set of practice behaviors pertaining to the whole person, including the physical, interpersonal, organizational, familial, and spiritual domains of the psychosocial self. Alongside professional self-care practices at the organizational level, Newell makes a case for the pragmatic role of recreational activities, time with family and friends, physical health, spirituality, and mindfulness. The application of a comprehensive approach to self-care practice has potential to empower practitioners to remain resilient and committed to the values, mission, and spirit of the social work profession in the face of trauma.

1

AN INTRODUCTION TO CULTIVATING PROFESSIONAL RESILIENCE IN DIRECT PRACTICE

I learned a long time ago that those who are the happiest are those who do the most for others.

—BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

CHAPTER GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

1. Describe social work and other human service professions as career paths equally rich with emotional challenges and with opportunities for professional growth and resilience.

2. Introduce the importance of personal and professional self-care as an essential component of daily practice with human service populations.

3. Identify the need in social work education for curriculum and course content on the utilization of professional self-care by social workers and other human service professionals to cultivate professional resilience.

4. Briefly introduce the terms stress, empathy, resilience, and self-care as the four core constructs essential to understanding the material in this book.

5. Conceptualize self-care from an ecological systems perspective as a holistic practice with components from various domains of the psychosocial self.

6. Provide an outline and a rationale for the presentation of the chapter content, materials, and book features so that they may be utilized efficaciously by students, faculty, and other interested professionals.

As future professionals, many students who self-select the pursuit of a professional social work education feel that human service work is more to them than a career path: it is the call to embrace a professional life of deep, meaningful, and rewarding service. Congruent with the mission, values, and humanitarian spirit of the social work profession (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008), social work students willingly dedicate their college lives and future professional careers to providing services to those members of our society who are poor, vulnerable, underserved, underprivileged, or otherwise suffering in their human experience in some way. For some, the true face of social work practice is not revealed until the gateway to the profession is opened in field education. Many, even those who complete field education as part of their degree, subsequently enter into social work practice unaware of the potential impact of the chronic day-to-day exposure to clients and the emotional and often distressing narratives of their psychosocial problems. In her classic work on relationships, Perlman (1979) described the emotional impact of her practice experiences in this way:

I found myself reluctant to detach myself from clients I had come to invest in, to like, sometimes to love, to be concerned about, to puzzle over, to be angry with, to be awed by. In short, I came to understand that it is hard to separate from persons whom you have joined in emotional experiences, even when at times they have not been wholly happy ones. (p. 5)

Nearly three decades of empirical research has demonstrated that the emotionally challenging aspects of direct practice in social work and other human service careers have potentially deleterious and sometimes consequential psychological effects on the providers themselves. This research bears particular relevance for students and neophyte social work professionals pursuing careers in child welfare, clinical social work, disaster mental health, military social work, or other forms of trauma-related care (Black, 2006; Cunningham, 2004; Gilin & Kaufman, 2015; Knight, 2010). It has been suggested by some that occupational stress conditions such as professional burnout, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious traumatization, and compassion fatigue may be underestimated “occupational hazards” for those providing social work services (Pryce, Shackelford, & Pryce, 2007). Occupational stress related to the emotional and organizational challenges of social work practice have confirmed that these conditions are a reality when working with vulnerable populations, particularly with those who have survived traumatic experiences (Figley, 1995; Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995; Stamm, 1999).

THE PEDAGOGICAL NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL SELF-CARE

The wealth of evidence in the research literature on the emotional effects of human service work on direct practitioners clearly implies the need for a well-developed and comprehensive trauma-informed educational curriculum (Strand, Abramovitz, Layne, Robinson, & Way, 2014). Part of the academy’s obligation to future social work professionals is to deliver course content inclusive of personal and professional practices related to self-care. It can be argued that the implementation of instructional efforts to cultivate the continued resilience and well-being of our social work and human service workforce is an ethical imperative in social work education (Newell & Nelson-Gardell, 2014). Yet there appears to be a gap between the integration and application of the evidence in the practice literature, suggesting the need for content on self-care as a component of trauma-informed education (Courtois, 2002; Jaynes, 2014; Knight, 2010).

The emotional and psychological risks associated with being in direct practice with vulnerable populations and the essential use of self-care strategies to address this important aspect of human service work has been an overlooked issue in social work education (Cunningham, 2004; Newell & MacNeil, 2010; Shackelford, 2006). The need for continued student education, training, and professional development at the undergraduate and graduate level is supported by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 2009), which suggests that social work education programs should recognize “their critically important roles in educating social work students about the practice of professional self-care by integrating such content into existing student standards, policies, foundation and advanced curriculums, field practicum, and assignments and projects” (p. 247).

Despite the evidence in the recent literature and the recommendations by the NASW, the most recent revision to the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) produced by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE, 2015) makes no direct mention of the importance of including material on the practice of self-care in social work educational curriculum or course content.

This book was developed to address this important gap in professional training by providing an empirically based yet pragmatic and user-friendly educational resource to social work students, faculty, and professionals. Some social work students graduate from their professional training programs with little knowledge or ability to appropriately utilize self-care as an ongoing and essential practice behavior (Shackelford, 2006). Further, many social work students may be exiting their programs and entering the workforce lacking the professional training to recognize or address the signs and symptoms of occupational stress–related conditions such as professional burnout and the indirect or vicarious effects of trauma-related care (Lerias & Byrne, 2003). In the hope of using education as prevention, a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical literature addressing clinical issues such as countertransference, vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and professional burnout are presented. The risk factors and behaviors associated with these experiences in service providers are also examined.

It is more than reasonable to suggest that education on these conditions be infused into micro and macro social work curriculum and course content. Teaching students the practice of professional self-care requires little more than the interpersonal application of the theories, skills, and knowledge considered essential components of social work education. Basic practice skills such as problem-solving and task-centered approaches and strengths-based assessment can easily be applied when creating a useful, functional, and ongoing plan of professional self-care. Social work programs have the opportunity and the infrastructure to provide education as the first line preventive measure for the training of social workers who, by virtue of their inexperience in the field, are the most vulnerable to the effects of these conditions (Harr & Moore, 2011; Lerias & Byrne, 2003).

THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THIS BOOK

The overarching goals of this book and its contents are twofold. The first major goal is to provide students, faculty, field educators, and direct practitioners with a comprehensive work addressing the emotionally challenging aspects of being a career social worker, counselor, or human service professional. Although my perspective on this work and its contents comes from areas of social work practice, I also use the generalized term human service professional frequently throughout the book because the material is appropriate for any professional working with individuals, families, groups, communities, or organizations experiencing vulnerability or suffering in some way. Therefore, the material presented has utility and relevance for students and direct practitioners in social work, psychology, counseling, criminology, and other human service–related professions and agency settings.

Second, there is a central theme on direct practice, particularly the treatment of trauma-related disorders, and the practice of professional self-care as an essential component of daily practice and of the treatment relationship with clients. Each chapter includes material in the areas of direct practice, research, education, and professional development. This book is versatile as primary reading material, as a supplemental text, or as a resource for student professional development. The last 10 years of conducting research and providing professional education and training in this area has revealed that the existing literature includes many books that focus on one specific aspect of stress, trauma, or professional self-care but no comprehensive text. Moreover, much of the information available is predominantly anecdotal, paying little attention to the theoretical development, empirical evidence, or current trends in the professional discourse.

This book is intended to inform students, faculty, and professionals that this material may be infused into BSW and MSW curriculums to better prepare social work students to enter their future practice areas. The content can be used with courses at both the micro and macro levels of direct practice. The chapters follow a timeline that begins with the history of trauma-informed practice in human service professions and ends with pragmatic strategies for self-care for current and future professionals. Embedded within the chapters are exercises for professional development appropriate for a classroom setting or as part of agency training and professional development. A key aim is to provide a comprehensive resource with chapter offerings useful for beginning practitioners or classroom learners, for experienced professionals in the field, and for academics who wish to pursue research in the areas of trauma-informed practice and professional self-care.

THE CORE CONCEPTS

The chapters in this book are guided by the understanding of four basic core concepts: stress, empathy, resilience, and self-care. The term stress can be conceptualized both as environmental stimuli (stressors) and as the individual or collective behavioral responses to these stimuli. It is generally understood that chronic stress can be pervasive, having cumulative effects on human beings and all of their working systems. The sources of stress originate from various domains of the biopsychosocial self, including physical health, mental health, family well-be...