Systemic Risk Management for Occupational Hazards in the Human Service Professions

The human service professions have long been known to be associated with elevated risk for occupational stress syndromes, including burnout and compassion fatigue. This paper conceptualizes such syndromes as the result of exposure to occupational hazards that are endemic to human service work. Identifying moral injury (MI) and secondary traumatic stress (STS) as hazards that exist across human service professions, this paper then reviews resilience research from many human service professions. Synthesizing scholarly traditions that have typically remained separate, it identifies organization-level practices that may mitigate the risk of exposure to occupational hazards and build psychological resilience in the work force. It also identifies gaps in the resilience literature, topics that are not fully explained by existing models, and avenues for future research.