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Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Paper

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Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Paper
University of Phoenix
Angela Arington
April 30, 2014

Burnout, in the human services field, can be a common factor among employees. To reduce employee burnout it is important to look at contributing factors causing employee burnout to find methods of prevention. Reaction and responses to high-stress conditions from a personal perspective will follow, while providing useful methods into how as a human service professional, I can reduce the effects of burnout.
Burnout is defined as a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that comes from prolonged emotional stressors, interpersonal stressors, and workplace stressors. Burnout can happen when being involved with people in high stress jobs, and emotionally demanding situations (Lewis, 2007). Three factors to consider when identifying burnout are emotional exhaustion, a sense of depersonalization, and a feeling of low personal accomplishment with clients.
The feeling of being overwhelmed can become present when trying to meet the constant demands as a human service professional. The causes of burnout can vary individually, culturally, organizationally, supervisory, and through social supports. Individuals with Type A personalities, uncompromising management philosophies, the lack of motivation from employees, the absence of participative decision making, and policies created by the organization that go against employees’ cultural beliefs create a climate contributing to burnout (Lewis, 2007). Burnout can have an adverse impact on employees. Burnout can reduce productivity, reduce interest or motivation, and can increase the feeling of being hopeless, helpless, and cynical, affecting the entire organizations effectiveness (helpguide, 2014). When an organization witness’s employee burnout due to repetitive services he or she provides,

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