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Wellbeing and coping strategies of alcohol and other drug therapeutic community workers: a qualitative study

Mark Butler (Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)
Michael Savic (Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) (Turning Point, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia)
David William Best (Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK)
Victoria Manning (Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) (Turning Point, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia)
Katherine L. Mills (National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) (Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)
Dan I. Lubman (Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) (Turning Point, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia)

Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities

ISSN: 0964-1866

Publication date: 10 September 2018

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategies utilised to facilitate the wellbeing of workers of an alcohol and other drug (AOD) therapeutic community (TC)

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 11 workers from an Australian AOD TC organisation that provides both a residential TC program and an outreach program. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis

Findings

Three main interconnected themes emerged through analysis of the data: the challenges of working in an AOD TC organisation, including vicarious trauma, the isolation and safety of outreach workers and a lack of connection between teams; individual strategies for coping and facilitating wellbeing, such as family, friend and partner support and self-care practices; organisational facilitators of worker wellbeing, including staff supervision, employment conditions and the ability to communicate openly about stress. The analysis also revealed cross-cutting themes including the unique challenges and wellbeing support needs of outreach and lived experience workers.

Research limitations/implications

Rather than just preventing burnout, AOD TC organisations can also play a role in facilitating worker wellbeing.

Practical implications

This paper discusses a number of practical suggestions and indicates that additional strategies targeted at “at risk” teams or groups of workers may be needed alongside organisation-wide strategies.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel and in-depth analysis of strategies to facilitate TC worker wellbeing and has implications for TC staff, managers and researchers.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants who generously shared their views and experiences, and also to the organisation in which the research was conducted for participating in the project. Finally, the authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on our manuscript.

Citation

Butler, M., Savic, M., Best, D.W., Manning, V., Mills, K.L. and Lubman, D.I. (2018), "Wellbeing and coping strategies of alcohol and other drug therapeutic community workers: a qualitative study", Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/TC-08-2017-0024

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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