Category: Grief and Bereavement, Empowerment / Strengths-Based Category: Grief and Bereavement, Empowerment / Strengths-Based (show less) Other: Illinois Other: Illinois (show less)

Helping professionals enter the social work field because of their desire to ensure that every individual is safe, cared for, has advocacy, treated with respect and dignity, and can live a successful life. The social worker soon finds that there is a myriad of requirements, challenges, and struggles with helping people, not matter the organization or milieu. There are multiple systems involved, often lack of funding and less than optimal support for the professionals giving their all to their work. Social work is a career that can lead to burn-out and compassion fatigue. One cause of compassion fatigue and of social workers leaving the field for is professional grief. Many social workers are not taught about how to process their feelings during trying times and are not aware that taking care of their personal grief is paramount. For social workers, grief arises from many directions. A worker is consistently building relationships with individuals who will come and go from their lives. Individuals may not live up to expectations. There may be grief around the systems worked within and how there is difficulty putting clients at the forefront. Sometimes, social workers struggle with moral injury, particularly when their values may conflict with their workplaces. In some ways, despite all the successes, social work is one loss after another for the worker. Professional social work often consists of ongoing loss. The presentation is geared to help social workers process professional grief, providing tools and concepts to help process professional grief and continue to be a healthy, balanced and productive social worker.