You will see people on the ragged edge of mental illness whether you are practicing in the paradise of Key West or along the swampy edges of Lake Okeechobee. It’s something you see all too often in every sort of social work practice and in every community throughout Florida. The fact is, the people that fall through the cracks from every corner of society are often those dealing with mental health challenges.
Unfortunately, that list includes plenty of social workers, too.
It’s a job where you are repeatedly and constantly exposed to secondary trauma from the horrific things that happen with your clients. You will feel the stress and pressure that comes with trying to find resources and direct solutions for them, all the while exposed to the raw emotions they naturally experience.
You are signing yourself up to help, but you are also putting yourself in a place where the potential for anxiety, trauma, depression, and fatigue are part of the job every day.
You Can’t Take Care of Your Clients Unless You’re Okay
As you will learn in your social work studies, mental health problems are not inevitable outcomes or risks you should run. They are foreseeable issues that can be addressed through appropriate attention to self-care and mental well-being.
This is a must for social work practice in any role or for any location across the state of Florida. You won’t be able to give your clients much help if you are in rough shape yourself.
Whether you decompress through yoga on the beach or just by talking over tough situations with fellow social workers, you’ll need to find techniques to defuse tension that could develop into mental health disorders.
So you need to get the right habits started early — while you’re still studying for your social work degree, or while clocking your experience hours prior to becoming licensed. This list of self-care and mental health resources can help you stay in top form as well as offering assistance you might be able to use for your clients themselves.
For Florida Social Workers, Mental Health Threats are Very Real
The biggest part of keeping yourself mentally fit for service as a social worker is to understand what threats are most likely to come at you. You’ll learn plenty about these threats as part of your social work degree studies.
But the biggest threat is so subtle it may not even be mentioned — your own empathy.
Empathy is critical for social workers, and you don’t get into this business unless you have a surplus. But it often leads you to delivering 110 percent every day to take care of your clients—and leaving nothing for yourself.
That’s the path to burnout, a combination of fatigue and stress that saps your energy and attention to detail. It’s a state that is mentally damaging for you, but potentially devastating to clients who rely on you to give everything you’ve got to help solve their problems. In 2005, a research paper published in the Journal of Mental Health found that an astonishing 40 percent of social workers reported currently experiencing emotional exhaustion.
Almost three quarters of all social workers will experience burnout at some point in their career.
You can also lose track of your empathy if you experience compassion fatigue. This hits social workers who see so much vicarious trauma in their clients from day-to-day that they become desensitized to the human impacts.
That’s related to secondary traumatic stress, a condition where you begin to experience the same emotional reactions as your clients to the crises they are going through. It’s a key piece of that warm and generous heart you are carrying around to feel for others—feel too much, though, and you will feel the damage of anxiety and depression that come along with those emotions.
All of this, of course, can lead to chronic conditions and a decrease in your actual physical health as well. So you have reasons both personal and professional to take advantage of these resources to keep yourself mentally fit.
Local Mental Health Resources for Florida Social Workers
National organizations may have the most resources, but the best support often comes from the people who are closest to you. Various organizations have popped up across Florida to assist social workers and other counseling professionals to maintain their mental health and wellness. From groups that let you get together to vent with peers, to organizations that offer free counseling for social work professionals in crisis, there are plenty of resources nearby.
National Association of Social Workers – Florida Chapter
In Florida, you can enjoy the best of both worlds with membership in the state chapter of NASW. Drilling down even further, 18 volunteer-led local units of the organization put together community projects, self-care meet-ups, and other useful peer support opportunities within driving distance of anywhere in the state you might live and work.
Jacksonville/Miami-Dade/Northwest Florida Associations of Black Social Workers
Similarly, NABSW has three affiliates in the state for Black social workers located in Jacksonville, Miami-Dade, or Northwest Florida. These are forums where you can connect with other Black social workers in your area for more personal support and recognition of the particular challenges of practicing as a minority social worker in Florida today.
Florida Association of School Social Workers
School social workers are a specialized niche in social work practice, with their own standards, demands, and stresses. So social workers that end up in this important branch of practice will be happy to learn that they have their own dedicated organization for support in the Sunshine state. The group celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month every year, and offers a Four Ways Forward toolkit year round that teaches self-care best practices among other ways to support mental well-being.
Florida Society of Oncology Social Workers
Oncology is another tough gig in social work, with a lot of trauma and suffering to deal with even with patients who pull through. FSOSW puts you together with other social workers who have been through that wringer and can help you over the tough spots. The group puts on workshops and presentations to maintain professional standards, and advocates for programs and policies aimed to meet psychosocial needs.
Peer Support Coalition of Florida
Peer support is a concept that will be most familiar to social workers dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues in Florida. But the Peer Support Coalition of Florida has a great list of training options and resources that are available to any social service professional who needs a hand either with self-care or in getting a handle on client mental wellness issues.
The state Department of Health maintains a list of mental health links that allow social workers quick access to assistance for crisis situations. Available online, via phone, or by text, these can quickly put you or your patients in touch with professionals to deliver crisis counseling and mental health referrals when they are most needed.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health | Florida Department of Children and Families
Another state-level resource for Florida social workers is DCF. With a list of resources and services organized by county, you can always find assistance for yourself or your clients somewhere nearby.
Major Resources for Mental Health and Wellness From the American Social Work and Behavioral Health Community
Often, the best places to turn for mental wellness resources are your peers and colleagues. They’ve been through the wringer and they understand what it takes to maintain your sanity and attitude.
So professional organizations built by and for social workers are a good first step on your path to self-care.
National Association of Social Workers
NASW may be the group that has done the most for social work as a profession. Since 1955, the organization has championed not just causes of social justice and community welfare, but also support for social workers themselves. In fact, self-care is a key piece of the NASW Code of Ethics today. As a member, or holder of any of the specialty certifications the group offers, you are committed to taking care of yourself.
You’ll find the supports offered by NASW largely coming through organized gatherings and continuing education offers. But the group also put together an excellent self-care resource hub during the COVID-19 pandemic with best practices and online resources. It remains a great reference point for social workers today.
National Association of Black Social Workers
Many Florida social workers are Black, and NABSW provides a similar venue and resources for those members as NASW. Webinars and online training for mental health supports are available, as well as networking opportunities to meet with other Black social workers who can identify with the unique challenges you find on the job.
The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
AAETS has a special frontline assistance program that connects responders to traumatic events with local experts in trauma therapy. You’ll find them operating in the wake of hurricanes and floods that ravage both of our low-lying coastlines, and social workers can take advantage of their services as well as other professionals.
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
Anxiety and depression are among the more likely mental health issues social workers can experience, so it makes sense to turn to the experts for assistance. Free resources are available to inform you about treatment options, and continuing education webinars are available both live and on-demand to deepen your knowledge around these dual threats to mental well-being.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
For a more big-picture set of support and resources in mental health, you may turn to NAMI. Breaking down stigmas to treatment and providing information about both causes and treatments for mental illness since 1979, NAMI is important for social workers looking to raise awareness around mental health challenges. But it also has specific peer support training materials for health and public safety professionals to help deal with the particular pressures and needs of frontline service.
Other Self-Care Resources Available to Florida Social Workers
Studies in self-care are built-in to social work education today. But something else that you’ll learn along the way is the importance of continuing to engage with and learn throughout the entire course of your career.
Just like other professional skills, self-care is a process that you can continue to build on and perfect as you gain experience. And, just as with those other skills, the best way to do that is to learn from experts who have already found ways to pass along what they have learned.
So you will want to start compiling a list of various resources to help you build that understanding and expertise as you advance through the profession of social work. If you need some beach reading or a podcast to keep you company on a paddle up Holmes Creek, consider some of these options to keep your mental well-being and self-care skills up-to-date.
All these self-care options for mental health and wellness are useful; some may also count toward fulfilling your continuing education requirements to maintain your Florida social work licensure.
Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project
One of the most significant threats for social workers who are confronted with trauma and distress day in and day out is compassion fatigue. It’s insidious because it comes on gradually, often escaping notice until the damage has been done. But with the self-tests offered by CFAP, you can monitor yourself for this draining condition and take care of it before it takes root.
National Alliance on Mental Illness – Florida Chapter
NAMI also has a dedicated chapter in Florida, with online presentations, extensive mental health education, and, importantly, support groups that are available for both yourself and patients in this neck of the woods. Peer-led programs offer free education, skills training, and support valuable in both self-care and the practice of social work overall.
Florida State University Introduction to Self-Care in Social Work
FSU not only incorporates self-care into their social work educational programs; they also offer this online overview and introduction to self-care resources for free, to any social worker in the state. A collection of tips, explanations, and practical self-care steps to take helps you launch your career from a stable place in your own life.
An extensive collection of self-help and diagnostic resources can be found at this website. They cover the entire range of mental wellness issues that social workers deal with, both personally and on the job. With clear and well-organized categories, you can find useful assistance in no time at all and on-the-fly from this useful catalog.
MedlinePlus – Mental Health Collection
The National Library of Medicine has been collecting resources and information on mental health issues for more than 25 years, and makes it all available for free on their website. You can find resources on almost any condition, from diagnostics and tests to the latest treatment research to links to outside resources.
211 for Essential Community Services
Run by United Way, 211 is a free information and referral service. Operating helplines for Central, Northeast, North Central, and Northwest Florida, this service connects people to a wide range of health and human services—maybe including you! But it also offers social workers and their clients fast access to mental health services in their area.
Administered by NAMI and funded by Florida DCF, this service is a unique health and wellness opportunity that offers extensive self-direction in mental health treatment. It’s restricted to Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Henry, and Glades counties currently, and aimed at individuals who are below the national poverty level and don’t have private insurance. For that group, it represents a kind of freedom in mental health treatment that few would otherwise have.