May 19, 2025
Mental Health Professionals' Experiences of Burnout and Vicarious Traumatization: Illinois HEALS Evaluation Study Findings
Mental health professionals are essential for the healing of children, youth, and families who have experienced victimization. In this study, researchers sought to better understand mental health professionals’ experiences with burnout and vicarious traumatization. Researchers examined interview data that they had gathered for a different, earlier study from five clinicians and clinical supervisors serving child and youth victims in rural Southern Illinois. They previously collected these data as part of their process evaluation of the Illinois Helping Everyone Access Linked Systems demonstration site program. In this study, the same researchers analyze these previously collected data for the new purpose of understanding vicarious trauma. Results show that the five providers who were interviewed had experienced or were at risk for experiencing burnout and vicarious traumatization symptoms due to their work. However, they were aware of these risks and were actively implementing strategies to prevent or alleviate symptoms and negative impacts. This article concludes with recommendations for mitigating burnout and vicarious traumatization based on interviews and the research literature.
- Article
https://icjia.illinois.gov/researchhub/articles/mental-health-professionals-experiences-with-burnout-and-vicarious-traumatization-findings-from-the-illinois-heals-evaluation-study - Download
Mental Health Professionals' Experiences of Burnout and Vicarious Traumatization: Illinois HEALS Evaluation Study Findings PDF
Individual publications, as well as old meeting agendas, minutes, and materials, are always available for download from the ICJIA Document Archive: https://archive.icjia.cloud