Social Work Burnout

Below, I've listed several of the papers that I wrote on this subject while pursuing my MSW degree. I worked at the West LA VA as well as part of an in-home psychotherapy program that for homebound elderly clients.

Social Work Burnout: An Investigation of Contributing Factors

"Individuals that enter "helping professions" like social work often cite their ability to have a positive impact on the lives of others as part of their motivation for entering the field. When a social worker reaches the burnout stage, she may feel that she has no longer has the ability to have a positive impact on the lives of others."

Morality in Social Work

"As I have begun to awkwardly and tentatively construct my own theory of practice, the one principle I have officially accepted as "my own" is one of Putnam's as well: that every person is deserving of respect."

The Pathology of the U.S. Social Services System

...the social welfare bureaucracy is not a massive fortress protected by forces beyond our ability to understand and control. The bureaucracy consists of millions and millions of individual people who have decided, for whatever reason, to participate in it."

Social Workers and Bureaucracy

"On the one hand, clients receiving mental health services are told that their disorders are illnesses that they suffer from through no fault of their own, and that they cannot control the biochemical factors of their illness without medication...on the other hand, they are told that if they change their behavioral and thinking patterns, they may be able to exert some control over their illness."

If you're burnt out, or suspect that you might be, another great resource to check out the Fried Social Worker Website!:

Fried Social Workers Click Here!

Want to test yourself to see if you fit the "Burn Out" Criteria? Click Here:

Burn Out Self-Test