DCS Stress Issues

Social Work is a helping profession that strives to help the community on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. It is an investment of self to offer services and help to those in need. Areas of service can include, but are not limited to, traumatic situations, family situations, and child protection. As in most social service professions, the field of social work can often times take a toll on the emotional and physical stability of a social worker. One side effect from working in a helping profession is compassion fatigue. As a result, the National Association of Social Workers stresses the importance of self-care and its vitality in ensuring the social worker does not get burnt out by the profession.

Plan improvements to the identification and approach to dealing with workplace stress and conflict in own area of responsibility

This can affect how an individual feels, think and behave. Signs and symptoms can include sleeping problems, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating. Stress can usually cause high blood pressure.

Read the the following case studies and determine if they are a form of stress, distress, or disorder. In the spaces provided below, indicate which type of disorder is portrayed in each scenario. Justify each response in 100- 200 words.

Staff who are involved in the complaints or concerns may experience anxiety or stress. The

When I assessed my level of stress, I used the Stress Test from stress.org. My results were between 22 and 55, which, according to this test, falls in the Danger Zone. Due to lack of sleep, my appearance is

My identified issue is lack of sleep and high stress levels. I do not maintain a schedule that would allow for enough quality sleep. I am also experience stress levels that are high, and suspect that lack of sleep may be a source of some of this stress. I have difficulty falling asleep and occasionally staying asleep. As a result I am often fatigued and tend to crave high fat sugary carbohydrates and overeat on them, to maintain mood and energy.

Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.

Exercise regularly can help fight and reducing stress, beside after doing exercise can improve our quality of sleeping.

As for child welfare workers, they tend to be more associated with the field of criminal justice and law enforcement than social workers. Child welfare caseworkers have become responsible for implementing the policies and laws created to provide children with protection and permanent housing residence (Zell, 85). Child welfare workers usually hold and finalize decisions that may determine life or death on a daily basis, creating some form of difference in the lives of at-risk families and children (Brittain and Potter, 3). Many individuals view the child welfare workforce as a constant state of crisis and elevated stress. However, numerous workers succeed in this career path (Brittain and Potter, 3). Being exposed to difficult situations repeatedly,

A study was created to establish a caseload standard for child welfare workers (Engel, Rafael, Spjeldnes, and Yamatani 2009). They wanted to see how the workloads for child welfare workers affect their service provision, recruitment, and retention; the study was located in Pittsburgh. Child welfare systems are supported to provide permanent, wellbeing, and safety for all children who enter the system (Child Welfare League of America [CWLA], n.d.-a, [paragraph] 5). This is visually impossible if you do not have the time to spend with the families. It’s essential that workers are not overloaded with caseloads. Child welfare workers have a high turnover, burnout, and potential for errors that currently undermine system. 4Kids of South Florida

However, Susan Holcomb states that stress is the most common factor leading to insomnia and a variety of factors can affect it worst like being female of the intake of caffeine (2007). Another major statement about the cause of insomnia is simply difficulty falling asleep. These factors causing little sleep one night can add up since postponing an adequate amount of sleep until the end of the week has been shown to cause long term effects. Students who know they will have to stay up late some nights should set aside one or two nights each week when they can afford to sleep more.

Sleep deprivation, in turn, exaggerates the symptoms of stress and it becomes a vicious cycle.

Sleep deprivation is a common issue among people around the world, and everyone has or will experience it in their life. Not getting enough sleep makes it difficult for the body to function properly. Insomnia is a well-known disorder, mainly known in the United States; one in ten adults suffers from this disorder (Kloc). There are many reasons why people end up with a sleeping disorder, and the most common reason is stress. When people do not have enough sleep they behave differently, and do not make the same choices as if they were fully rested. There are four stages of sleep. The fourth stage, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the most important stage of sleeping. A common side effect of BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) is sleep

According to Elkin and Rosch (1990) workplace related stress in a major problem in the U.S. and it creates a major expense for corporations. Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske (1993) indicate that all jobs have some level of stress but jobs that are in the human services have additional stressors because they “derive from intense involvement in the lives of others”. (p.319). They also refer to the type of stress experienced by individuals working in human services as “burnout” (Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske, 1993, p.319). Another factor that can influence our stress level is how we handle life’s demands. There are different ways of reacting to the situations we face every day of our lives. We have all heard of expressions such as ‘road rage’ and ‘going postal’. These are terms that we have come to identified with violent reactions to stressors caused by situations all of us face every day. How many of us have experiences in the road that