Posttraumatic stress symptoms in workers within the homeless serving sector: The impact of organizational factors

Working within the homeless serving sector is acknowledged as very challenging work. The incidence of both past and present trauma in the lives of homeless individuals increases the complexities of this work and stress experienced by staff working with them. This chapter presents the results of a study on burnout, compassion fatigue, and psychologically traumatic events-related stress in homeless sector workers in two large cities in Western Canada. The high rates of reported Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms by workers, as well as an examination of supervisory supports for these workers and the impact of those supports on PTSD symptoms is described. How organizations can establish if workers are experiencing burnout or psychologically traumatic events-related stress and how they can offer support appropriate to the type of stress is discussed.