Navigating Burnout: The Role of Workplace Support for Social Work Clinicians

Authors

• Melanie Fulton, Arkansas State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The shortage of mental health workers is a growing concern in the United States, and social workers a substantial portion of employees who work with individuals with mental health concerns. This shortage stresses the importance of studying factors that impact burnout for mental health clinicians, particularly social work clinicians. While burnout among social workers in some settings have been documented in the literature, less research has focused on independently licensed clinical social workers in private practice. This study had participants complete a survey to examine the relationship between workplace support, burnout, and professional fulfillment among this population (N = 57). Findings from the analyses showed that lower levels of workplace support were associated with higher burnout (p < .05). In contrast, more support was positively correlated with professional fulfillment (p < .01). The study’s results suggest that having more support in an individual’s work environment plays a significant role in decreasing burnout and increasing professional fulfillment. Burnout poses a threat to clinicians’ overall physical and mental well-being, job retention, and patient care. Therefore, prioritizing strategies that help increase workplace support may help address workforce shortages and strengthen the overall quality of mental health services for this population.

Recommended Citation

Fulton, Melanie (2026) "Navigating Burnout: The Role of Workplace Support for Social Work Clinicians," Journal of Global Awareness: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.stjohns.edu/jga/vol7/iss1/3