SFY 21 Self-Care Initiative

Research indicates that child welfare workers experience an increased risk for vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, trauma related stress, and professional burnout. Moreover, public child welfare workers, when compared to other social service professionals, are disproportionately impacted by bureaucratic processes related to service delivery and cuts in funding and community resources. Indubitably, these factors can negatively impact workers’ ability to deliver adept social services to children and families in need. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) recognizes the need to promote self-care as a professional practice. Therefore, the Self-Care Initiative is designed to ensure that CHFS Employees, specifically those serving in Family Support and Protection and Permanency, are explicitly informed about foundational, practical strategies for engaging in self-care practices. Objective I: Address self-care challenges experienced by CHFS employees, specifically employees in Family Support and Protection and Permanency, through the delivery of training specifically tailored to public child welfare workers in Kentucky. Objective II: Evaluate the impact of regional self-care trainings Objective III: Provide virtual refreshers to supplement regional trainings as needed Objective IV: Develop and implement ongoing virtual service provision plans to ensure continuity of self-care initiative services.