Child Life Council : Personal & Professional Growth

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Personal & Professional Growth

Burnout: Knowing the Symptoms and Learning How to Care for Yourself, Too (Child Life FOCUS article, Spring 2004 Issue)

Following is an excerpt:

Unfortunately in the caring process people often wear themselves down. Quality of care is compromised when one is working with diminished resources. Compassion fatigue and burnout are real hazards for caregivers who regularly observe or participate in clients’ suffering. Often, the direct result of this overexposure to tragedy is the loss of highly seasoned professionals. Often caregivers put others’ needs before their own and consider it a “treat” to take time and do something for themselves. Caregivers have a habit of feeling guilty for taking care of themselves because they could be doing something for somebody else. Frequently, this perspective is what leads to burnout.

Gottlieb, D., Hennessy, L., & Squires, V. (2004). Burnout: Knowing the Symptoms & Learning How to Care for Yourself, Too. Child Life Focus, 6(2), 1-4.

To read the complete article, log in to the CLC website and download the Spring 2004 issue from the Bulletin Archive.

American Psychological Association: www.apa.org - Search for keyword BURNOUT.

Child Life Council Guidelines for Online Networking

The purpose of this document is to assist child life specialists in considering their approach to social networking, both in their professional and private lives. As a variety of social media technologies continue their rise in popularity, many child life professionals are facing new questions about how to apply ethical and professional boundaries in their online interactions with friends, colleagues, patients and families. The CLC Web and Online Networking Task Force (WONAT) conducted an extensive benchmarking study to review policies developed by other organizations, then created a unique series of guidelines specifically catered to the child life community. Each guideline incorporates one or more tenets of the Child Life Council Code of Ethical Responsibility.
The following transcript is from a 2004 CLC Annual Conference panel discussion entitled "Child Life: Supportive v. Therapeutic." Key speakers in the discussion were Michael Towne, Diane Rode, Joy Goldberger, Richard Thompson, and Kathleen McCue. Also listed is a case study presented at the 2005 Annual Conference entitled "A Garden, Two Brothers and Variations on a Theme of Mourning."
- Child Life: Supportive v. Therapeutic
- A Garden, Two Brothers and Variations on a Theme of Mourning

Barnsteiner, J. & Gillis-Donovan, J. (1990). Being Related and Separate: A Standard for Therapeutic Relationships. Maternal Child Nursing, 15, 223-228.
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Driscoll, K.M. (2004) Crossing professional boundaries: Ethical, legal and case perspectives. Rehabilitation Nursing, May/Jun, 29, 78.
Milton, C.L. (2003) The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics: A reflection on the ethics of respect and human dignity with nurse as expert. Nursing Science Quarterly, Oct, 16 301.