Explore the International Stress Management Association UK (Links to an external site.) website and consider your own strengths and limitations identified in the summary page upon completion of the Coping and Stress Management Skills Test (Links to an external site.). What avenues do you feel would be useful techniques for managing the stress that accompanies the Helping Profession? How can the Helping Professional remain empathetic without becoming sympathetic? Reply in 250 words to two of your classmates’ posts.

Classmate #1 Thomas Sago

Discussion 2

What avenues do I feel would be useful techniques for managing the stress that accompanies the helping professional?

The managing of their caseload, this helps to place them at a level of expectation where they can be most comfortable and competent (Levine, 2013). This will give them a sense of control over their job performance and allow them to practice their skills and obtain more knowledge. The professional needs to be able to take mental health days off, because of the demand for their position. Being in the people, business is very taxing on your emotions and your and your physical health. Workers must step back and take a look at their workload reevaluate and reorganize it so they can handle it better and feel they are in control (Levine, 2013).

How can help professionals remain empathetic without becoming sympathetic?

Self-awareness knowing their limitation and taking care of their emotional and mental health getting enough sleep and eating a healthy diet. The helping professional must know that sympathy is important but that empathy and objectivity are even more so (Levine, 2013). Some of the issues that the social worker will need to contend with are their own biases and the habits they were brought up with, this can have an effect on the decision that is made in the moments of passions (Levine, 2013). Self-care is the key for the workers to be able to survive in the field when dealing with the human population in their time of greatest needs. I have taken the test and have considered my own strength and limitation.

Looking at the results of my own coping and stress management skills test, I learned that I do handle stress okay for the most part. I am doing some of the right things to keep my stress levels down. My overall results were 81, problem-focused coping is 81,emotion-focused coping is 79, negative coping methods is 17.

I thought that was good for a 69 years old African American male in America today.

Reference

Levine, J. (2013). Working with people: the helping process. (9th Ed). [Electronic Version]. Retrieved from: https://redshelf.com

Classmate #2 Ronda Schulz

Week 5 – Discussion two – Stress Management

What avenues do you feel would be useful techniques for managing the stress that accompanies the Helping Profession?

I feel that workers should be well aware of the stressors that may come with their position in the human services career and that they should be self-aware and sensitive to changes within their mental and physical well-being. Helping professionals should be aware of the world around them and the changes in society (Levine, 2013). I feel it would be beneficial to be aware of the world and the changes in society because it allows the worker to prepare themselves for what clients may come in for. Another technique is to learn how to manage one’s workload (Levine, 2013). A worker should know how much they can handle, taking on too many cases or agreeing to do more than one can manage is unnecessary. The stress is not worth it, one should be able to speak out or resist being given too much work. The last technique I feel workers should be aware of is to live a satisfying lifestyle that can help distance the worker from their work (Levine, 2013). A satisfying lifestyle could mean living healthy, attending games or sporting events, going jogging or learning a new hobby and making it part of one’s lifestyle.

How can the Helping Professional remain empathetic without becoming sympathetic?

The helping professional can remain empathetic without becoming sympathetic by being self-aware and understanding their emotional limits. When a helping professional finds themselves becoming worked up in response to what the client is saying or not saying they should take a moment and collect themselves. A helping professional should be empathetic but also objective when listening to clients. They should be sure that they have the information that they need, rather than just the emotions they’ve witnessed or felt, in order to properly assist their clients.

Reference

Levine, J. (2013). Working with people: the helping process. (9th Ed). [Electronic Version]. Retrieved from: https://redshelf.com