Beyond Burnout Helping Teachers, Nurses, Therapists, and Lawyers Recorver from Stress and Disillusionment

9780415912051

0415912059

Each year thousands of people enter one of the helping professions. The work they do affects how we live, how we feel, even who we become. Yet an increasingly critical public believes that many of these professionals lack idealism and commitment. Beyond Burnout explores the source of this problem. Based on a unique, in-depth, longitudinal study, this book follows a group of social workers, teachers, psychologists, nurses and poverty lawyers over a period of 12 years, beginning with their first year of practice. These professionals describe in their own words what happened to them when their idealism collided with the realities of their work. Through their stories, Cary Cherniss describes both the process of burnout as well as the factors that allow professionals to recover from burnout. He traces the changes that occurred in the professionals' attitudes and values and the resulting positive and negative effects. He also suggests practical policy changes to enhance professional caring in the human services. Beyond Burnout will be of particular interest to those engaged in a helping occupation, but will also be valuable reading for anyone concerned with the quality of education and human service in contemporary society.