Archive for March, 2009
Social Workers Health and the Effects of Stress
Many social workers suffer from illnesses and conditions which can be made worse by sustained stress from their jobs. As a social work manager and supervisor I have had to ensure that those I supervise have been given enough support to undertake their jobs whilst ensuring they have appropriate support to take care of their [...]
Vicarious Trauma And The Energy Social Workers Create
A good friend of mine called Nay introduced me to the term “Vicarious Trauma”, a concept she as an Australian Social Worker was well versed in before leaving college. It can affect all professionals but those in the Caring Professions can experience it on a day to day basis when dealing with other peoples trauma, [...]
Effective Communication When Prioritizing and Managing a Response to High Risk Cases
This week I was asked by a manager to give my oppinion and suggest appropriate intervention on a problematic service area which she is managing. The manager was feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems and required help to think through how she responded to competing demands, inexperienced workers who needed guidance and a [...]
How to slow down and re-evaluate your stress at work
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that when a client tells me that they are “stressed out”, there are two things which are always present – a busy mind and a tense feeling inside the person.
What makes it worse is that these two things tend to feed on each other. The [...]