Exploring the workplace well-being of staff at a new integrated community mental health service for children and young people

Abstract

Why you should read this article: • To acknowledge the importance of mental health professionals' well-being in the workplace • To identify factors that can support mental health professionals to work around service constraints • To find out how staff coped with working in a new community service for children and young people during the pandemic Background: There is a lack of research into the workplace well-being of community mental health professionals. Given children and young people's increasing needs for mental health support in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, it is timely to explore the workplace well-being of community mental health teams. Aim: To explore the workplace well-being of staff working in a new integrated community mental health service for children and young people. Method: Eleven mental health professionals from a range of disciplines took part in the study. The 11 participants completed an online questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale, which measures levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Three of them also took part in an individual semi-structured interview. Findings: Participants felt hopeful and optimistic about the future of the service, felt supported by managers and peers, and wanted to enhance their skills to meet children and young people's increasingly complex needs within the constraints of a service offering brief interventions. Participants displayed high levels of compassion satisfaction, low levels of burnout and particularly low levels of secondary traumatic stress. Conclusion: Emotionally supportive leadership, a culture of continuous learning and peer support may reduce the uncertainty felt by community mental health staff about a new service and create optimism about the future, which may in turn contribute to workplace well-being. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Mental Health Practice is the property of RNCi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)