Supervision and MFT burnout: overcoming the challenges therapists face in the workplace

Citation: Franco GE (2015) Supervision and MFT burnout: overcoming the challenges therapists face in the workplace. Most of us know that feeling. As we lay in our beds we close our eyes, but no matter how hard we try, we can't stop thinking about that one client. We ask ourselves whether we could have prevented them from going into crisis and threatening to commit suicide. We wonder whether having them hospitalized was the right choice. How about our assessment that morning? That poor woman just found out that her 15 year old grandson was using drugs since he was 10. Or maybe they are thoughts of that couple we saw yesterday. They are triangulating their 5 year old child into their relationship, but have difficulty acknowledging it no matter how many times we point it out. These images flood our mind until 1 day, we just stop caring. Our minds go numb. We are human, after all, and can only take so much. We burn out. Burnout is may arise as a result of prolonged time of stress that is a result of someone not achieving their goals (van Dam et al., 2011). For example, therapists working at community mental health agencies may experience burnout as a result of not being able to meet monthly productivity standards. After months of not meeting their productivity, the therapist may simply just give up. This can be a problem because it can be difficult to recover from burnout. Recovery from burnout can be difficult. In a study conducted on individuals with burnout, van Dam et al. (2011) found that even when motivational interventions have been implemented, individuals with burnout were averse to expending more effort and did not improve their performance. van Dam et al.'s findings suggest that the prevention of burnout may be an effective course of action to prevent the challenges associated with treating burnout after it has occurred. In order to prevent burnout, though, one must know what burnout is. Studies have discussed the concept of burnout as a process that involves failure, wearing out, or becoming exhausted due to excessive demands on a person's resources, energy, and strength Behavioral symptoms of burnout can include difficulty to holding in feelings and verbalizing negative attitudes (Freudenberger, 1974; Shin et al., 2014). Freudenberger further asserts that people working long hours in jobs with little compensation are prone to burnout and points out …