Master of Social Work Blog

Reflections from MSW Students at Seattle University

This is a space for current Master of Social Work students at Seattle University to reflect on their experiences, the world of social work, and current events.

Measure Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout with the ProQOL Assessment: A Trauma-Informed Perspective

By Julianna Folta

As a social work student, you’re preparing to step into a profession dedicated to supporting individuals, families, and communities through some of their most vulnerable moments. The emotional labor inherent in social work can be both rewarding and challenging, especially when working with those who have experienced trauma. It’s essential to cultivate awareness of how this work impacts you—not just in terms of your professional skills, but also your emotional well-being.

The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) assessment is a tool designed to measure three key areas: compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Regularly assessing these areas can support you in maintaining your well-being while providing trauma-informed care. Here’s why it’s particularly valuable for social work students to integrate the ProQOL into their self-reflection and self-care practices.

two students talking at a conference

1. Fostering Self-Awareness for Long-Term Sustainability

Social work, particularly in trauma-exposed environments, requires deep empathy and emotional presence. Early awareness of how your work is affecting you can help you build the resilience needed for a long, sustainable career. The ProQOL provides an opportunity to check in with yourself in a structured way, helping you notice shifts in your emotional well-being. By using this assessment, you can recognize early signs of emotional strain, burnout, or decreased compassion satisfaction. This awareness empowers you to make proactive choices in how you care for yourself—whether that means reaching out for support, adjusting your workload, or engaging in healing practices that restore your sense of balance and purpose. 

2. Understanding Compassion Satisfaction: Honoring the Joy of Helping Others

For many social workers, one of the most fulfilling aspects of the profession is the sense of purpose and joy that comes from making a positive difference in people’s lives. Compassion satisfaction refers to this sense of fulfillment, and the ProQOL offers a way to measure and reflect on it. Recognizing when your compassion satisfaction is high can be grounding, especially when the work feels emotionally heavy.

As a student, it’s important to reflect on the aspects of your work that bring you joy and meaning. Trauma-informed care emphasizes the importance of both self-awareness and reflective practice. Monitoring your compassion satisfaction helps you stay connected to the deeper purpose behind your work, even in difficult times.

3. Preventing Burnout with Early Intervention

Social workers, particularly those supporting individuals who have experienced trauma, are vulnerable to burnout, a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. Burnout can manifest when the demands of the work outweigh the emotional resources you have available to cope. This can lead to feelings of helplessness, frustration, and a reduced ability to provide effective care. Using the ProQOL regularly can help you identify signs of burnout before it fully develops. By noticing early warning signs—such as emotional exhaustion or decreased sense of accomplishment—you can take intentional steps to restore balance. This might involve integrating restorative practices like mindfulness, peer support, or trauma-informed supervision into your routine.

4. Recognizing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Building Resilience

Working closely with individuals who have experienced trauma can lead to   secondary traumatic stress (STS)  —the emotional and psychological impact of being exposed to others' trauma narratives. Over time, STS can affect your own well-being, potentially leading to symptoms such as hypervigilance and emotional detachment. The ProQOL assessment measures your levels of STS, offering insights into how your work is affecting you emotionally. As a student, recognizing and addressing STS is critical. Cultivating resilience through practices like reflective supervision, self-compassion, and regular self-assessment helps protect your well-being and allows you to remain present and effective in your work.

5. Embedding Self-Care into Your Professional Practice 

Trauma-informed care emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, safety, and empowerment—not only for those receiving services but also for those providing care.   Self-care is a vital component of this framework. The ProQOL encourages you to engage in regular self-assessment, which can be a valuable form of self-care. By using this tool, you develop a practice of checking in with yourself, ensuring that you are not only supporting others but also attending to your own needs. As you track your ProQOL scores over time, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how different aspects of your work impact you emotionally. This can guide you in making decisions that prioritize your well-being, whether that means setting boundaries, seeking mentorship, or integrating restorative activities into your daily routine.

6. Supporting Professional Growth with Trauma-Informed Reflection 

Finally, the ProQOL can be a tool for your professional growth. As you progress through your studies and into your career, regularly assessing your compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress can help you reflect on your professional experiences in a trauma-informed way. This reflection not only benefits your personal well-being but also enhances your ability to provide high-quality, trauma-sensitive care to others. Understanding your ProQOL scores can help you identify patterns in your emotional responses to the work. This awareness supports both your personal resilience and your professional competence, empowering you to advocate for workplace practices and policies that promote well-being and reduce the risk of burnout and trauma exposure among social workers.

Measuring your compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress with the ProQOL assessment is an essential part of trauma-informed practice. For social work students, this tool provides valuable insights into how your work affects you emotionally, helping you develop the self-awareness and resilience necessary for a fulfilling, sustainable career. By regularly checking in with yourself using the ProQOL, you can support your own well-being while continuing to provide compassionate, trauma-sensitive care to those you serve.

To take the assessment, visit ProQOL.org

Social Work Values
Written by Sarah Smith

Social work is a values-driven profession. Though social workers may vary in personal values and styles of practice, the field of social work maintains a set of core values to guide the profession and set a standard for practitioners. These core values, which the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) includes in their Code of Ethics, are service, social justice, dignity & worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. The NASW corresponds each of these values to broader ethical principles that contextualize and further describe these values.

Upward perspective of tree canopy

  • Service - “Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems” (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021).

    The field of social work originated in the 19th century through efforts to address social problems in society following the Industrial Revolution such as urban poverty, which disproportionally impacted particular groups such as immigrants and children.

  • Social justice - “Social workers challenge social injustice” (NASW, 2021).

    The ethical principle behind the value of service suggests social workers must focus on addressing social problems and people’s unmet needs. However, the value of social justice suggests that social workers must go further and evaluate power and oppression within the grander context of social problems and unmet needs.

  • Dignity and worth of the person - “Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person” (NASW, 2021).

    Social workers should value the dignity and worth of each person, guiding social worker’s efforts toward improving human rights, access to resources, and quality of life with clients.

  • Importance of human relationships - “Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships” (NASW, 2021).

    The value of human relationships in social work leads social workers to apply interventions and engage with clients at a variety of levels, including with individuals, families, groups, and communities. Social workers also should work to establish rapport and a trusting, compassionate relationship with their clients.

  • Integrity - “Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner” (NASW, 2021).

    Social workers must not only behave in a trustworthy manner, but they should also maintain integrity for their professional ethics within social work practice.

  • Competence - “Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise” (NASW, 2021).

    The value of competence encourages social workers to operate within their area of training/scope, ensuring clients receive quality, accurate care. The core value of competence also means social workers must engage in life-long learning to enhance their professional development, facilitate greater self-awareness and self-reflection skills, and expand their knowledge.

When looking into various programs, I particularly resonated with social work’s focus on social justice and how Seattle U’s MSW program was intentionally designed to center social justice in its curriculum. Social work’s value for social justice allows social workers to work within a variety of levels and settings and to maintain a person-in-environment perspective when working with clients.

References

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of Ethics. NASW.

One MSW student’s ADHD-approved schoolwork tips
Written by Sarah Smith

We are already in the winter quarter, which many students agree is the most challenging of the year. To help, here are some of my ADHD-approved study tips that have helped me during my time in the MSW program!

Students studying in the library

Starting Your Quarter Off Well

  • Read the syllabi! Make sure to take note of how grades are broken down in each class.
  • Take note of when big assignments are due and whether they fall close to another due date, so you know ahead of time
  • Sometimes it's okay to skip an assignment if it will benefit your mental or physical health! Knowing which assignments impact your grade the least can help you prioritize how to use your time.
  • Use a calendar or planner to keep track of assignment due dates. Transfer them at the start of the quarter from class syllabi into whatever type of calendar you use!

Tips for Writing

  • In an MSW program, there are two main types of writing, one of which more formal APA-style writing, and one of which is more personal or reflective. Sometimes, you will use both in a writing assignment or just one, so make sure you understand which style is expected for each assignment!
  • Read your papers out loud to yourself — this will help you catch if things are too wordy, repetitive, or unclear.
  • Don’t be afraid to use headings and subheadings to organize your thoughts and to make sure you are covering all the required components of your paper.
  • Do searches for words like “this” or “these” and make sure a noun immediately follows to avoid sounding general.
  • Keep an eye out for your use of passive language, like “this research was done...” rather than “researchers completed...” (I am super guilty of this, it’s a continuous process).
  • Note to self: Split up any sentences longer than three lines!
  • For literature reviews:
    • In our research classes from the first year of the 2-year MSW program,
      Prof. Sam Harrell suggested we write literature reviews as if each piece of literature is a person at a dinhner party—who is sitting near each other, who is having a disagreement, who are getting along? This analogy has helped me 1) develop a general sense of what various sources are saying about my topic and 2) identify areas where there could be themes or misalignment.

Methods for finding sources and forming your paper

  • First, I search various terms related to my topic in Google Scholar and the SU library database and bookmark any articles that seem helpful.
    • Tip: change up your terminology to produce more results—are there any synonyms for any words you’re looking for?
  • Then, I go through each bookmarked source and read abstracts and/or
    introductions. If a source seems relevant to my topic, I save it, and if not, I
    remove the bookmark.
    • I usually end up with at least ten relevant sources using this method, but it depends on the topic you are researching.
  • Then I download all the selected sources to a folder on my computer (some people prefer to print their sources, too).
  • Now that I’ve got my articles gathered, I read all the articles in-depth, highlight important things, and take notes separately on things that I should remember as I’m writing, such as research findings, research methodology, key arguments or points, etc.
  • Then, I go through the notes I’ve taken on all my sources and use color-coded highlighters to highlight or make note of any patterns or common themes I see.
  • This color-coding method helps me to organize my arguments and the key
    information I am pulling from my sources!
    • For example, in a paper about the housing first model, I might use green to represent information about the implications of housing first models for physical health and blue to represent.
    • This method may sound soo extra, but this has really helped me work
      through the overwhelm of sifting through multiple sources and identifying key things to cover.

Reading tips

  • I find it easier to read in small spurts rather than all at once, so I try to break it up over multiple days (most times it ends up being a crunch the night before class, though).
  • Make notes of any questions you have while reading and underline or use a highlighter to emphasize key information or sentences that stand out to you.
  • Sometimes, there are so many readings assigned that skimming is necessary, especially while balancing other assignments, work, personal life, and practicum.
  • Tip for skimming:
    • Read abstracts or introductions first, then read all the headings and the first and last sentences of each paragraph.

General Tips

  • Generally, people say to start with the hardest task. However, if you have ADHD like me, you may have to trick your brain’s reward system by doing an easy task first like a discussion post before moving on to more challenging tasks like working on a paper.
  • Figure out what environment works best for you! Is background
    noise/ambiance/lofi helpful or do you focus best in a quiet environment?
    • Body doubling (working around other people working) can be helpful! Find a café or invite cohort members to meet on campus.
  • Keep your homework-doing area organized and free of clutter (i.e. the pile of laundry thrown in the desk chair).
  • Your basic needs should always come before schoolwork.
  • If you are feeling like you will be unable to finish an assignment on time, it’s best to communicate with your professors ahead of time.
  • Lastly, if you ever are feeling imposter syndrome, you are here for a reason. Each student in the program brings their own unique experiences, knowledge, and qualities to the cohort! You bring your own gifts to share with the group, so don’t be afraid to share them.