Clarification of child and youth care identity through an analysis of work environment and burnout

Abstract

Recent years have seen the child and youth care field extend its range beyond day and residential treatment settings. These extensions have challenged traditional aspects of child and youth care worker identity. The analysis of work environment and its relationship to burnout in child and youth care workers, as compared to other social service providers, highlights the unique aspects of the field that emerge from its milieu origins in which workers engaged children and youth continuously within their life space. Milieu-based workers perceive a different work environment and respond differently to aspects of burnout. Over the years, child and youth care workers have developed their skill base and their philosophical orientation in response to the demands of milieu. As the field moves into other practice arenas, it must not lose a sense of its origins. It must strive to transport milieu oriented practices to non-milieu situations.