Developing team resilience to prevent burnout in statutory residential care

This study reports on the outcomes of 15 semi-structured interviews undertaken
with managers employed by one Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trust
within the residential child care sector. The purpose of the research was to
explore the concept of ‘team resilience’ as a method to prevent burnout and
compassion fatigue amongst residential social workers and care workers. The
findings show that high levels of support already exist, but recruitment,
communication, supervision, team meetings, team development, reflective
practice, resilient individuals, team ethos and management style are all factors
that contribute to team resilience. Teams need to be acknowledged, valued and
nurtured to make them more effective and resilient. The more a team spends
time together and is permitted to grow together the more resilient it becomes.
Strong internal dialogues and communication are key functions to a resilient
team that ultimately promotes the quality of care for service users. Developing
a team to be internally self-aware, with an ability to embrace change whilst
acknowledging individual core strengths, provides a solid foundation for
promoting team resilience. The article discusses how trust and a sense of team
purpose can contribute to the development of cohesion and resilience.