Report by UniSA, Centacare warns of ‘ticking time bomb’ of stress for social workers
Frontline social workers who help traumatised South Australians get back on their feet are increasingly in danger of burning out, a new report warns. And it’s a problem that “cannot be ignored”.
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Burnout among social workers tasked with helping traumatised South Australians is creating a “ticking time bomb” that “cannot be ignored”, a new report warns.
The findings of a pioneering study of workers who confront issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, mental illness and homelessness on a daily basis will be released today.
Its authors warn the impact on staff who are immersed in the suffering of others requires “immediate attention” to ensure burnout does not deplete this crucial workforce as demand for help only grows.
Centacare Catholic Family Services commissioned the research, conducted by the Australian Alliance for Social Enterprise (based at UniSA), to better support its social workers.
But the authors stress the findings are relevant to any employer in the community services sector, including governments.
The sector is one of the fastest growing parts of the state’s economy as each year more children are taken into state care, more victims escape domestic violence and more people seek treatment for mental illness or substance addiction.
The likelihood of suffering what is known as vicarious trauma is also increasing among those on the frontlines of welfare services.
Vicarious trauma occurs when the traumatic experience of a person is transferred to, or taken on by, a person who helps or cares for them.
There is also the risk of workers becoming desensitised to suffering or developing “compassion fatigue” after dealing with despair all day.
The report prepared for Centacare finds that vicarious trauma is “an unavoidable consequence” of this work and can translate to “actual harm over time” for workers.
“With the rapid expansion of the community services sector over the past few decades, this represents a ticking time bomb … (which) requires immediate and ongoing attention,” it warns.
“This situation cannot and should not be ignored.
“The findings contained within this report provide an important insight not only into a single organisation (at Centacare), but a template for the sector to consider and respond.”
The report found Centacare had good policies in place to protect workers but makes recommendations including continuing to:
REGULARLY assess the impact on staff.
ENSURE employees maintain boundaries between work and home, take adequate breaks and have enough time between difficult clients or jobs.
SHARE “small wins” or good news stories.
ALLOW staff to debrief informally with colleagues while ensuring their traumatic experiences are “not simply offloaded” onto others.
PROVIDE counselling or official debriefing with senior managers.
Centacare deputy director Pauline Connelly said the state needed “highly skilled and dedicated (social) workers who in turn need our support” to deal with the challenges of the job.
Child Protection Department boss Cathy Taylor said the agency was about to launch its first Wellbeing Framework to provide “strategies and supports to improve the health, safety and wellbeing” of staff who “regularly bear witness to the pain and complications that trauma creates” for the struggling families they work with.
STORIES FROM A CARER
EVE Beaumont’s job takes her into the homes of struggling families at the exact time they want to be left alone.
As part of Centacare’s Family Preservation Service, the 28-year-old tries to help parents and children stay together when there are concerns over safety in the household.
The team confronts “persistent” problems with alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, poor hygiene, children missing school and parents neglecting to seek medical help for their child.
“There’s huge resistance at times,” said Ms Beaumont, who has been a senior practitioner in the service since May.
“There’s embarrassment and shame but we have to really quickly develop relationships.”
Ms Beaumont said Centacare staff were trained to assess risks and had access to a safety app which offered a call-back feature, but the work takes a toll.
“There’s things that you can never unsee, and feelings that come with that,” she said.
“There’s a lot of sadness. Leaving a visit you might have the kids screaming out, saying to take them with you. You’re as put together and stoic as you can be … but you get in the car and think ‘That was full on’. There are times when you’re on the brink of tears.”
Sometimes “days can go by” before workers can process a traumatic incident because they are so busy.
“There’s also times when we’re probably a bit desensitised to what we’ve just dealt with,” Ms Beaumont said.
“The drive back to the office is probably the most critical time … to make sense of what’s just happened.”
As well as informal debriefing with colleagues, staff can access counselling or supervision with managers.
For Ms Beaumont, a “good sense of humour” in her team, walking her dog Daisy or watching “something so far removed from what you do, like Disney movies” help clear worries from a day on the job.
And it was important, she said, to celebrate “glimmers” of progress, like a hand-drawn card from a child at risk.
STORIES FROM THE WELFARE FRONTLINE
CASE 1: “I was a bit of a green graduate social worker at this point. (It was) the first time I saw a young girl really off her face. This older man had shot her up (with illicit drugs) and I was just beside myself. I couldn’t imagine that an adult man would help this little girl inject drugs. We were waiting for the ambulance and I remember just being very, very shocked by … (the) state that she was in.”
CASE 2: “It was my last client of the day. The young person was clearly quite traumatised … and got very descriptive with me about what had happened (to them). I walked out of that appointment and I just felt so heavy. I thought, ‘I need to talk to somebody about this’. My manager wasn’t around and … I don’t want to burden my colleagues … (so) I took that home. It was probably a day or two later … I hadn’t let go of that story, and I was really worried about this young person coming back in.”