Provide a summary of the interview.

Caretaker Interview

Tiffany Seace

University of Phoenix

Professor Amanda Williams

November 26, 2016

Interview with Deb Melanson

Deb has worked as a case worker for 7 years. She currently works in a woman’s shelter in the Portsmouth area. She is 44 years old and loves doing her job although she admitted it can be very tiring with long days and nights. “I take some of my work home with me, even after I have already left the office” she stated. There may be emergency situations and I may need to go visit a client or go to a court session. Some days will be simple with routine visits and checkups with families I have been working with. Others take all my energy in cases where my client has disappeared, injured themselves or family, or just given up. These are the situations that are very emotional because I have worked with these individuals for a few weeks, months, and then it turns to the worse” (Melanson,2016).

When asked if Deb has ever experienced burnout she admits that she has been overwhelmed in the past with trying so hard to help her clients out and then they relapse or give up counseling. The stages of burnout that she experienced were stage 3 frustration. Deb has had several cases that have not ended very well and it got the best of her emotionally. She felt that she could have done more to help and that she let her clients down. She was thinking of ways it could have been done differently and doubting her ability. To Snap out of this phase and to make sure she does not return to it Deb gave me several strategies that she uses. 1. She spends time with her family and enjoys leisure time. Deb has a husband and a 24-year-old daughter. 2. She does not discuss anything work related or bring home any stresses, or emotions home to her family. 3. Deb finishes as much work load, visits, and case studies as she can while at work and limits others to Monday-Friday so that the weekends can be spent being refreshed. 4. Deb will attend support groups, trainings, and express herself to co-workers, management when needed. She said she does not let it get bottled up.

Burnout is defined as an internal psychological experience involving feelings, attitudes, motives, and expectations. Burned out means the energy of a person has been consumed by helping someone else. The energy crisis occurs because the psychic demand exceeds the supply. Burnout is experienced as a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations. This feeling is accompanied by physical depletion, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, disillusionment, negative self-concept, and negative attitudes towards work, people, and life. It represents a breaking point where it is very hard to cope with the environment around. Compassion fatigue is caused by work related stress and it is a gradual loss of compassion over time. It can share some of the same symptoms as burnout but not as severe.

There are several burnout blocks that can occur. 1. Role ambiguity, the lack of clarity concerning rights, responsibilities, methods, goals, status and accountability to themselves. 2. Role conflict, demands placed on them are incompatible, inappropriate, and inconsistent with values, and ethics. 3. Role overload, the quantity and quality of demands placed on them are too great. 4. Inconsequentiality, they feel like no matter how hard they work the outcome means little in recognition, accomplishment, appreciation, or success. 5. Isolation, they have little social support. 6. Autonomy, their ability to make decisions on to what they will do and how they will deal with their clients is affected by their place or work.

Signs of burnout

There are many signs that an individual may express that are indications of burnout.

· Tardiness

· Dreading work

· Turning to drugs alcohol

· Withdrawing from friends/family

· Clockwatching

· Depression

· Sudden weight gain or loss

· Suicide or homicide attempts.

These are only a few of the signs of burnout

Stages of burnout

There are four stages of burnout:

Stage 1 Enthusiasm: The worker enters the job with high hopes and unrealistic expectations. If this idea is not tempered by orientations, training programs and realistic expectations then the human service work will lead to the stage of stagnation.

Stage 2 Stagnation: The worker starts to feel that personal, financial, and career needs are not being met. Awareness comes from perceiving others as moving up the ladder faster, increased pressures from home, financial obligations increasing, and lack of personal reinforcement from doing the job well. If these are not taken care of it can lead into the next stage which is frustration.

Stage 3 Frustration: Frustration means that the worker doubts their effectiveness, values and impact of their efforts. One person’s frustration is likely to have a domino effect on others and because the effects of burnout are contagious in an environment. Frustration can be dealt with by arranging workshops, and support groups to increase awareness and generate problem solving as a group. If frustration is not taken care of it can turn into the next stage which is Apathy.

Stage 4 Apathy: is the place of burnout. The individual becomes immobile, in denial and is in a stage of crisis. At this point psychotherapy is needed for reversal to take place (Gilliland, 2013).

References:

James, R. K., & Gilliland, B. E. (2013). Crisis intervention strategies (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Melanson, D. (2016, November 25). Personal interview