Research

Job Stress In The Community Service Sector

This was a project undertaken by Marilyn and Phil Wadick; Marilyn works as a counsellor, supervisor and group leader, and Phil works in the field of OHS. They combined both their skills and know-how to research how counsellors perceive job stress, and how organisations perceive and deal with job stress. This is very important because workers compensation stress claims are on the rise across OECD countries, while claims for physical injuries are on the decline. A contributing factor seems to be the effects of globalization and neo-liberalism on the way business is conducted in these times: there is an emphasis on triple bottom line thinking and a philosophy of ‘let the market decide’. This puts pressure on management for funding, which tends to encourage a style of thinking that focuses on outcomes (i.e. numbers of clients seen) rather than process (how are our workers feeling about their job).

Following is an abstract for a paper presented at the PACFA CONFERENCE held in Melbourne, 24 -25 August, 2006.

Abstract

Title: Management responsibility and counsellor wellbeing: what works and what doesn’t. A model for best practice.

The paper presents the results of a research study designed to further a dialogue about how best to nurture the wellbeing and prevent the burnout of counsellors. Primary themes to emerge were: the lack of recognition of counsellor well being and self care as an occupational health and safety issue, the lack of openness to emotional care as being part of the workplace, the impacts of work stress on the home life, the language used to describe the effects of job stress, burnout, counter transference, the importance of structural organisational factors in protecting the counsellor coupled with management recognition and support, counsellor control of work flow, effective supervision, and the supervisor-supervisee relationship. Recommendations are made that may help reduce the exposure of counsellors to job stress and/or minimise the risk they face as a result of that exposure. It offers both employers and counsellors ideas to help manage their particular forms of job stress.