"I Don't Want my Job to Take over my Life": Psychological Self-Care Perspectives of Early-Career Social Workers in the Field of Migration in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the experiences of early career social workers in the field of migration regarding psychological self-care. Three focus groups were conducted with nine social workers who were registered with the Migration Study Commission of the Turkish Association of Social Workers. The data were analyzed using MAXQDA. The analysis is presented through four themes: the motivations for working in the field of migration, the experiences of working in this field, the strategies for psychological self-care, and the recommendations for psychological self-care. The findings show that the caseload of early career social workers is high, they face the language barrier, and there is no effective supervision system. Individual and institutional strategies are used to provide psychological self-care. It can be recommended to reduce the workload, improve the supervision system, implement mindfulness activities, and provide access to mental health services in promoting psychological self-care of early career social workers in the field of migration.