Stress and Mental Health Social Work a Developmental Perspective

The High Court recently awarded £200,000 in damages to a social worker against his employer- a local authority- for failure to provide support. He was the first person to win compensation for work related stress. I felt as if I had a tight band around my head... tiers of management had been taken out and the others were left to cope. I could do nothing for the people below me and nobody above wanted to know. I knew I was making mistakes but could not do anything about it (source Sunday Times, 31.12.95). It may be coincidence that a situation involving a social worker sets a legal precedent. However it will trigger a reaction, and we are yet to see what direction this will take, but the court ruling clearly located the problem within the working conditions to which the worker was exposed, and agreed these were beyond his control. In a wider sense the impact of occupational stress on the front line workforce within the personal social services has to be an area of concern as it is difficult to imagine a tircd, angry, cynical front line worker facilitating improved client outcomes (Rapp & Poertner, 1989). There is a widespread assumption among the public and other professions that all social work is a high risk occupation, and this view is reinforced by the social work