Caretaker Interview

Caretaker Interview

Find an individual in a human services field or other helping profession to interview. As you are selecting your candidates, you may want to consider contacts you made during your field experience placement or reach out to areas where burnout are prevelant, such as chronic disease centers, hospices, caregivers, case managers, or counselors.

Keep the interview length brief, but be sure to include the following questions:

1. Tell me about a time that you experienced burnout. What kinds of feeling did you experience?

2. What were the circumstances in your worklife at the time that you experienced this burnout period?

3. What do you feel could have been different about the situation to alleviate the burnout for you?

4. What do you do to address self-care now, such as getting enough rest and exercise, eating right, meditating, and having good work boundaries?

5. What advice would you give to a novice human services worker to avoid burnout? 

6. What does your organization do to help prevent burnout or compassion fatigue?

7. What services does your organization offer to employees suffering from burnout or compassion fatigue? 

8. Which do you see more prevalent in your organization: burnout or compassion fatigue? 

9. What advice would you give a peer who came to you and thought they were suffering from compassion fatigue?