Working in the field of social welfare is challenging. One of the most stressful fields of social
work is child and adolescent welfare, where social workers come across distress and traumas of social service users, their rough stories, stressful situations and a lot of other pressures (by society, institutions, individuals as well as their own pressures). Social workers have to supervise the ones involved in the process, and at the same time, be their confederate. The procedure of removing a child from their home also comes with a lot of stress. In the following research I am focusing on the sources of strength and the protective factors of social workers, which help them cope with daily challenges in the workplace. I have conducted the in-depth interviews with the social workers working in the field of child and adolescent welfare and with the representatives of the same Social Work Centre (the assistant directors and the director herself). With the qualitative research I explored individual methods of stress relief among social workers and how does the Social Work Centre contribute to this. While doing the research, I paid attention to their needs and wishes as well as to the regulatory framework, especially to the legislation and the role of the competent ministry, which as an organization strives for social changes and the protection of human rights. I researched what (else) would the social workers, working in the field of child and adolescent welfare, need besides the already established methods of coping with stress and burnout at work, to be more prepared and efficient. Based on the findings, I propose the active involvement of the cooperating Social Work Centre’s social workers in the affairs of the entire organization, which means in co-creating a work environment by participating in addressing important work and other related organizational issues, in organizing work and in other questions regarding different strategies for coping with stress and burnout. I also propose connecting the units of the cooperating Social Work Centre and also other Social Work Centres in Slovenia for the purpose of sharing the experience, knowledge, support and help among the social workers.
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