The Dedicated & Committed: Introducing Identity Camaraderie to Recognize Burnout & Grief in Social Work Clients
The Dedicated & Committed: Introducing Identity Camaraderie to Recognize Burnout & Grief in Social Work Clients
Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026; 10:00 am - 1:15 pm
Presenter: Dr. Shanea Thomas, LICSW, CSE
Description: Though most people still feel the lingering effects of world events such as COVID-19 and the changes brought on by our current administration, which affect our ability to practice holistically, these unprecedented times are leaving practitioners and administrators feeling a bit weathered and professionally unstable. What happens when the issues you are experiencing personally align with the community that you directly work with? When you share an identity with a client or group, how can we be sure that there is a boundary between who we are and what they need? This workshop will examine the social changes that have significantly affected our ability to provide care in direct and administrative services, and how we use our identities, consciously or unconsciously, as they affect our ability to show up as our whole selves. This workshop is based on Dr. Thomas' research and knowledge of the lived experiences of those working within healthcare and service-oriented institutions, and is inspired by Freudenberger's (1986) community-oriented research on burnout. In this workshop, Dr. Thomas believes that without equipping organizations to address the emotional effects of trauma, grief, and loss in their work, shifting an institution's capacity without installing intentional care can just result in great workers leaving. This presentation covers the concept of identity camaraderie to describe the nuanced experience of a relationship between direct service practitioners and their clients, an offering of an Organizational Risk Assessment to evaluate the level of burnout experienced by clinicians in practice, and finally, walking through the construction of a plan for practitioners to thrive in the new era of practice.
Learning Objectives: Participants who engage in this workshop will:
1. Define grief, loss, and mourning, and apply these definitions outside the context of death and dying.
2. Use the concepts of identity camaraderie (Thomas, 2026) and the application of the Organizational Risk Assessment to address practitioner self-preservation for the longevity of practice.
3. Design an intra-inclusive practitioner care plan for intentional care around stress, burnout, and grief by exploring the importance of self-care, accountability, and historical knowledge through selected exercises and discussion.
CE: 3 Cat I
Cost: NASW Member - $50; NonMember - $75; Retired Member - $30; Student Member - $20
Register here!