Call Centres As Sites of Professional Practice: “Where Old Social Workers Go to Die”?

Hanna, Sue

doi:10.1080/0312407x.2010.497966

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, it provides further evidence of the valuable role internal supervision can play in promoting work wellbeing and perception of management support when it balances organisational responsibilities with the opportunities for reflective supervision (Carpenter, Webb, & Bostock, 2013;Holz, 2019). While some studies have indicated that call centres may heighten the perception of being monitored by management (Hanna, 2010), if the supervision provided is supportive versus coercive it may enhance counsellors' capacity to manage the demanding nature of their work. Such supportive versus managerial supervisory practice aligns with the goals of cultural supervision (Beddoe, 2016) by providing practitioners with a safe space to reflect on practice issues.…”

Section: Original Articlementioning

confidence: 97%

Heard but not seen: Exploring youth counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling

Davidson

Harrison

2020

ANZSWJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

INTRODUCTION: Human service practitioners who work over the telephone are physically invisible to their clients and this invisibility shapes their work. Existing literature suggests that physical invisibility, coupled with anonymity and the immediacy of service provision are defining features of telephone counselling. However, little research has explored how telephone counsellors experience these features in any real depth.METHODOLOGY: This article reports on a case study conducted at a youth helpline in Aotearoa New Zealand. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 practitioners on their experiences of telephone counselling work. One key finding from this case study is discussed: the impact of invisibility and anonymity.FINDINGS: Findings indicate that practitioners’ experiences of delivering telephone counselling are more divergent than those presented in extant literature. While telephone counsellors face challenges delivering non-face-to-face counselling support, the physical invisibility of this medium, coupled with a supportive work environment can also provide potential benefits to counsellors.CONCLUSIONS: Counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling work appear to be more nuanced than traditionally understood. While practitioners may experience a range of possible challenges in delivering telephone counselling, such as responding to hoax and abusive callers, they also experience benefits such feeling relaxed, and supported by colleagues and supervisors. Management practices, such as flexible rules and accessible supervision, can help practitioners manage the impact working non-face-to-face with clients. Given the ongoing popularity of telephone counselling, further research is needed on the working conditions that promote practitioner wellbeing and job satisfaction.

show abstract

Section: Original Articlementioning

confidence: 97%

Heard but not seen: Exploring youth counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling

Davidson

Harrison

2020

ANZSWJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In call-centres the focus is on answering and managing enquiries in a time-limited manner (Humphries & Camilleri, 2002). This is in direct contradiction to the aims and working approach of helping professionals in which the presenting issues of callers problems are identified and assistance is usually provided over an extended period of time (Hanna, 2010). A time-limited approach to calls is difficult to achieve in human services due to the complexity of problems that clients present with, such as homelessness, grief and loss, domestic violence and suicidal ideation (Humphries & Camilleri, 2002).…”

Section: Organisational Culture and Climatementioning

confidence: 97%

“…As illustrated in Chapter 2 empirical research highlights the importance of interpersonal relationships as both a protective factors against developing burnout and turnover intention (Cyr & Dowrick, 1991;, and as an integral source of support (Hanna, 2010;Shier & Graham, 2011). However, much of this research on the influence of interpersonal relationships within the workplace has been outside the field of telephone counselling.…”

Section: Supportive Interpersonal Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Supportive relationships with colleagues are important and highly valued by human service workers (Hanna, 2010;Shier & Graham, 2011), including telephone counsellors (Cyr & Dowrick, 1991;Geldard, 1983). Chatting with peers has been found to be an essential form of self-care (Ross et al, 1989), and a resource for coping with stress, improving job satisfaction and lowering burnout levels (Cyr & Dowrick, 1991;Jaffe, 1984).…”

Section: The Role Of Interpersonal Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditionally call-centre environments have been characterised by micromanagement, minimal worker discretion, uniformity of task, and repetitive performance of specialised tasks (Hanna, 2010;Kinnie, Hutchison, & Purcell, 2000;Raz & Blank, 2007).…”

Section: Organisational Culture and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Youth counsellors' experiences of telephone counselling: a qualitative exploration

Davidson¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Telephone counselling is a well established medium of non-face-to-face mental health service delivery. Research to date has focussed on the delivery and effectiveness of therapy over the telephone. However, there has been little exploration of counsellor's experience of this work. The limited body of research about telephone counsellors' experiences portrays this work as challenging, exhausting and possibility traumatic for counsellors to perform. This is of significance considering the impact these factors can have on counsellors' subjective wellbeing, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.Research suggests that work related factors play a greater part than individual characteristics in shaping the experiences of telephone counsellors. However, there is limited understanding of the various types of work related factors that may shape these experiences.To address this gap in the extant literature this thesis explores youth counsellors' experiences of telephone counselling, and the range of work related factors that foster them. It examines telephone counsellors' general experiences of this work and those in relation to the work related factors of work environment, interpersonal relationships and specific aspects of the work. Unlike previous research, particular attention is paid to the spatial aspects of this work, such as the physical workplace environment and the mental space.To gain an in-depth understanding of telephone counsellors' experiences this research employed an instrumental case study approach and focused on youth counsellors in one telephone counselling service in New Zealand. Ten counsellors with 18 months to 9 years telephone counselling experience participated in this study, with the majority concurrently studying a human service related course at university. A multi-method design was adopted, including observations, in-depth interviews and reflective journals. To explore counsellors' experiences and how they are influenced by work related factors, both social constructionist and organisational theoretical lenses were adopted.The findings in this thesis indicate that overall counsellors enjoyed the work of telephone counselling despite its challenges. They experienced discrete aspects of their work as challenging, yet enjoyed their interactions with callers and the quality of relationships they had with colleagues and supervisors. Whilst counsellors experienced elements of the physical environment to be distracting and uncomfortable, they were able to exert some influence over the impact of these features by locating themselves in a preferred 3 counselling booth. Counsellors were found to enter into a distinct mental place when joining with their callers. Within this mental place they experienced a higher degree of proximity in counselling calls and greater distance in testing calls. The counsellors were able to manage the degree of closeness within their calls by their physical movement of leaning into counselling calls and leaning back from testing calls.This thesis makes a contribu...

show abstract

New Intervention Strategies in Rendering Social Work Services to Families Amidst the Pandemic Crisis: A Social Work Perspective

Mamaleka,

Skobi

2024

Family Dynamics, Gender and Social Inequality During COVID-19

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Call Centres As Sites of Professional Practice: “Where Old Social Workers Go to Die”?

Cited by 7 publications

References 22 publications

Heard but not seen: Exploring youth counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling

Heard but not seen: Exploring youth counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling

Youth counsellors' experiences of telephone counselling: a qualitative exploration

New Intervention Strategies in Rendering Social Work Services to Families Amidst the Pandemic Crisis: A Social Work Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About