Abstracts Psychology

Awareness and wellness around the challenges social workers face: an informative approach to self-care

by Larissa Krause

The field of social work is by nature, built on upon a foundational ability to empathize with others. Common occupational stressors of social work practice compromise our connection with empathy, and negatively impacting both professional and personal lives of social workers. Far too often, fledgling social workers enter the filed of practice underprepared for the negative impact of these stressors. In the interest of preserving the health and wellbeing of social work professionals, I believe the best place to start is with the social work curriculum at the university level. This project explores ways in which educators can assist social work students to operationalize competent self-care practice through a workshop presentation that includes: identifying occupational stressors of social work practice, the physiological response to accumulated stress, and skillsets to help mitigate and buffer the negative impact of occupational stressors. Advisors/Committee Members: Abarca, Cesar.