Concepts of Managing Stress

Emma K. Pedersen
College of Social Work, University of South Carolina
SOWK 481: Practicum 1 Field Education
Professor Mike Ottone
October 22, 2023

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 Stress is a feeling that comes along with many careers. When this stress becomes constant

and excessive to where you feel overwhelmed and mentally and physically drained- this is

known as burnout. Social work has a higher rate than other careers of burnout for many reasons.

Going into this field, it is important to be prepared for burnout, what it might look like, and how

to deal with it so you can be equipped to handle it if you ever begin to experience it.

In this career path, there may be many areas we see need improvement or things that we

see that may be beneficial to our clients, or we may just have a huge caseload in general. In these

cases, we may see ourselves taking on and juggling a lot of different projects or overextending

ourselves to do or get things for clients. This may look like not being able to tell our clients,

colleagues, or supervisors “no” or not being able to leave work at work, but constantly thinking

about it and ways to help. Our personal and professional lives blend together. We become

exhausted and overextended. This is just one example of how a difficulty in the social work

career can lead to burnout. When burnout happens, even when we are trying our best to help our

clients, it negatively impacts our clients.

Many people assume that they will be looked at differently if they seek out help when

they are feeling the signs of burnout. They may think that others may look at them as if they are

not able to “handle it” or they might feel as though others will take this as a sign not to ask them

to do something in the future. It is rare that people think asking for support when having these

feelings will have a positive effect on their career. I used to think this too. It wasn’t until I

learned that asking for help, reaching out for support, is actually the way to building resiliency

and paving a way for you to not only be better equipped in handling the stressors, but also in

setting healthier boundaries around what is causing your stress. It is impossible to learn from

those around you who seem to have it all together how they do it if you don’t ask. Moving

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forward, I will continue to move away from my assumption that reaching out for support and

advice makes you look incompetent, but instead makes you look stronger! And teaches you so

many more skills in dealing with these things.

When I am under a lot of stress or feeling overwhelmed, I tend to get snappy with others

around me. I just want people to do what I think needs to be done to make whatever it is we’re

trying to do successful, and everyone is just doing it wrong! These are a few of my inner

thoughts in the midst of a stressful moment that I try to control. In these moments, I think that

others can tell that I’m feeling overwhelmed and frazzled. I think for people who know me well,

they understand it is just because I’m stressed out, but others who don’t know me as well may or

may not recognize that, so I need to continue to work on this. When experiencing more long-

term stress, or burnout symptoms, I tend to withdraw and/or get really sleepy. Like I mentioned

before, I used to not really seek out help so I would withdraw and just try to get everything done

myself. This results in me being super tired, which those around me can definitely pick up on.

I’ll fall asleep anywhere and everywhere, even in the middle of conversations. I think that most

people recognize this as a stress response, but I think it indicates I need to regulate my hyper and

hypo activity more to prevent big crashes or highs.

This past year, I was promoted at my job to a supervisor. It was great because there was a

pay increase, but there was also a responsibility increase. I was now responsible for training new

employees, and I was expected to work with all employees at least 1 shift per week. At the

beginning of this school year, when our internships started, I realized very quickly that it was

pretty challenging managing classes, an internship, and a basically full-time job all at once. I was

trying to fulfill my commitments and responsibilities to everyone without letting anyone know

what was going on. I told myself I could handle it, plus no one cared anyways, and I wasn’t

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willing to jeopardize any of the positions I had worked so hard to get to. After a couple months

of doing this, it was definitely wearing on me. It was wearing on me physically, in my

schoolwork, in my performance at my job and my internship, and more. It was clear to me that if

I didn’t make a change, everyone would notice anyways because I would keep performing

worse. I decided to just be honest with everyone and, surprisingly, everyone was really

understanding, and we worked together to figure out a different schedule for my job and

internship that worked better for me. I didn’t do anything amazing to deal with this situation, but

it taught me a valuable lesson that I will always take moving forward- that people will respect

you more if you are upfront about what you can and can’t handle rather than if you say yes to

everything and let them down on the back end.

Managing stress and burnout has definitely challenged my values- more specifically my

priorities. I am a people pleaser through and through and while I have always put others before

myself, the experiences I’ve had this past year have taught me that I have to prioritize myself,

my mental health, and my boundaries over everything. I realized that if I’m not taking care of

me, I cannot take care of anything else to the level and ability that I know I can. You cannot be

the great advocate, the shoulder to cry on, the one who does everything for everyone, if you can’t

even fill your own cup. I’ve learned to always fill my cup first, and to not feel guilty about it.

The biggest takeaway that I took from Reitmeier’s video was that burnout does not just

have an impact on us, but that it has a huge impact on our clients. She spoke about how much

medical errors increase whenever the workers are experiencing burnout and it really put into

perspective how much we have to think about the way that our career is very hands-on in

people’s lives. When we are not performing at our best, that has very real and tangible

consequences on those around us. This takeaway will always remind me that when I am taking

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care of myself, I am taking care of my clients and that will be the mindset and approach that I

carry with me into my professional career.

The biggest takeaway I had from the surgeon general’s article was the part where it talked

about the effects that burnout can have on the community and society. Oftentimes we overlook

these effects, but to me, I think they are the ones that have the greatest and most negative impacts

on our work. These can be things like the erosion of trust and the lack of preparedness for crises.

This discussion is something that will stick with me because it reminds us that, with a system

already at its breaking point, we cannot afford to not be at the top of our game. Going forward, I

will always keep a macro mindset in all the work I do and realize that burnout does not just have

small effects but can be a ripple in a wave pool!

To close out this discussion, I’d like to commit to self-care strategies that I can implement

in my life in order to limit the effects of burnout in my life and be the best and most prepared

professional I can be. Short term, I will commit to doing small acts that bring me joy throughout

my week. This can look like going on a nature walk, reading a book, cooking with my

roommates, or anything that can provide release from everyday stressors. Long term, I will

commit to continuing to showing up to the things that help to provide me with support and

community in order to be the best version of me I can be. This includes both individual therapy

and my group therapy sessions, as well as the gamecock recovery community. All of these things

will help me to thrive in both my personal and professional life so that I can show up and

perform well. Stress may be unavoidable in this career, but having a plan for when burnout hits is

something that we can be prepared for.