How have your handled burnout in your career?

From "Burnout and Self Care: A Process In Helping" by David Papia, LCSW in The New Social Worker, Fall 2014

"Our social work profession is noble. This is a very special career path. We get to participate in important matters in people’s lives. We learn about ourselves, about others, and about humanity. We engage in giving and receiving, and we engage in relationships that further who we are and further those to whom we attend. However, our profession comes with many significant challenges and occupational hazards that threaten to weaken our profession and the resolve of the professional social worker.  

    We know that our profession has become deeply entrenched in managed care practices, bureaucracies and governing bodies determining our daily work conditions, very high caseloads, low salaries, and a profound amount of accountability expectations.  These realities and conditions can and sometimes do weigh very heavily. It is easy to recognize the feelings and sentiment of doubt and questioning: Should I continue in this profession? Am I enjoying my job? How can I sustain? We might even wonder if someone should consider entering our profession. As a father whose daughter has recently gone off to college and has an interest in social work, I notice myself being “on the fence” about her interest in our field."

Editor's note

This past October 31, 2018 I celebrated 50 years in the field of Psychiatric Social Work. It has been a very satisfying and fulfilling career because I have never seen it merely as a job. It has been a calling and something that I believe I have been called to do.

The money is terrible. The benefits are awful. The working conditions difficult and sometimes dangerous. The thanks and appreciation for efforts and skills expended meager. So why would anyone want a career and profession like this?

Because the human dilemna is fascinating. No two days or even hours in the day are alike. There is always something to learn and the problem solving activity is extremely creative as every person is special and unique. The overall faith that somehow the world is becoming a better place one person at a time is paramount and it is this faith that dispels burnout.

Dr. Susan McDaniel, the best mentor and teacher I ever had, told me one time after watching a family interview I conducted in front of a one-way mirror (with the family's permission), "Dave, If you aren't having fun you aren't doing it right," was the best feedback I have ever received about my clinical interviewing work.

So, whenever I am feeling stressed and burned out, I remind myself to lighten up. Am I trying too hard? How can I have a little fun and enjoy my interaction with this client(s)? And I smile and silently thank Dr. McDaniel for her wise encouragement.

New York State enacts the Reproductive Health Act on 01/22/19

Yesterday, 01/22/19, on the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, New York State  enacted the Reproductive Health Act. 

With the Reproductive Health Act now enacted, a woman’s right to make personal decisions about her own reproductive health will be protected in New York State — no matter what the federal government or the Supreme Court do in the future.

Violent Crime down in U.S. 49% in last 24 years.

From Pew Research Center Fact Tank, 01/03/2019

Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century. The two most commonly cited sources of crime statistics in the U.S. both show a substantial decline in the violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. One is an annual report by the FBI of serious crimes reported to police in approximately 18,000 jurisdictions around the country. The other is an annual survey of more than 90,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asks Americans ages 12 and older whether they were victims of crime, regardless of whether they reported those crimes to the police.

Using the FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2017. Using the BJS data, the rate fell 74% during that span. (For both studies, 2017 is the most recent full year of data.) The long-term decline in violent crime hasn’t been uninterrupted, though. The FBI, for instance, reported increases in the violent crime rate between 2004 and 2006 and again between 2014 and 2016.

Click on image to enlarge

For more click here.

Who gets the pet when couples split?

Who gets the pet when couples divorce? Only California, Alaska, and Illinois have any statutes on the books to help judges decide when couples can't with California being the last to pass such a law which took effect on  January 1, 2019.

For more click here.

New York State bans mental health professionals from providing "conversion therapy." in 2019.

From New York Times on 01/19/19

Between 2012 and 2018, 14 states and Washington, D.C., passed laws prohibiting “conversion therapy” for minors. Deep-blue New York was not among them.

That finally changed this month when the State Legislature voted overwhelmingly to bar mental health professionals from working to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

For more click here.

Editor's note. I have practiced in the mental health field for over 50 years and have seen great changes in professional and public attitudes towards homosexuality. As a Professional Social Worker I have worked with my colleagues to diminish and eliminate the homophobia in our society. I have worked with many clients who have been harmed by homophobia and have striven to provide acceptance and unconditional positive regard for the worth and dignity of every person. It is a great joy to see this law passed in the New York State legislature at a very fittiing time in the calendar year when we also celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day.

In our contemporary society do we have two adulthoods?

Psychotherapy Stories

Episode 11, Two adulthoods

With our expanded life expectancy in contemporary times, people are faced with two adulthoods: the period of 20-50, and 50 - 80. The first adulthood we are biologically programmed by Mother Nature to mate and procreate and assure the continuation of our species. The second adulthood engenders all kinds of existential anxiety because Mother Nature doesn't help us at all. How have you, are you, or will you negotiate this transition from adulthood number one to adulthood #2?

Books - Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

What happens when parents suddenly die in a car crash and leave a 17 yr. old son, a 16 yr. old son, a 7 year old daughter and a baby daughter in a rural farming community in Northern Ontario, Canada?
Grown up Kate, now in her 20s tells most of the story.

It is a narrative full of love, sacrifice, loyalty, persistence, projection, and descriptions of attachment styles that are fascinating.

Kate certainly has become avoidant although she had been every attached to her brother, Matt the youngest son. This attachment dynamic is the plat of the book. While Luke the oldest, and Bo the youngest are interesting characters, the primary creative tension revolves around Matt and Katie, 16 and 7 when tragedy strikes the family.

This novel is an extraordinary description of sibling relationships and the significant role they play in our growth and development.

I give Crow Lake a 4/5 and recommend it if you are interested in family dynamics especially those between siblings who are thrown upon their own resources to care for one another.
I would recommend this book to students entering the helping professions especially for its depiction of attachment styles.