“A breath of fresh air”: mindfulness training for early-career mental health social workers in Israel during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the effectiveness of participation in a mindfulness group for Israeli early career social workers during the COVID-19 period. Eleven participants conducting fieldwork in a mental health rehabilitation center were interviewed. The participants described a variety of benefits from their mindfulness training, in three main areas: (1) Personal: applying mindfulness in their daily life; (2) Family: improved work-life balance and family relationships; and (3) Professional: applying mindfulness in their work with mental health clients. Mental support and self-care tools provided to early-career social workers were perceived by the participants as helping them overcome uncertainty, fatigue, and overwork.

KEYWORDS:

• Mindfulness
• early-career social workers
• mental health
• social work
• psychosocial intervention
• social support

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank: Renana Erlich.Einav Golan and Ayelet Zukerman and to HETZ, rehabilitation services in the community,Israel , for their help during the research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.