(PS9-46) What Else Can Supervisors and Agencies Do to Reduce Burnout Among Community Mental Health Providers?

Introduction: Burnout is high among community mental health providers (CMHPs) and is important to remediate due to its associations with poor provider well-being and worse quality care. CMHPs’ clinical supervisors and agencies are well-positioned to address burnout, though little is known about whether supervisors implement burnout strategies that are perceived to be helpful by CMHPs. Thus, the purpose of this project is to investigate at what rates strategies identified as helpful by CMHPs are currently used by supervisors and agencies. Given the exploratory nature of this project, there were no a priori hypotheses. 

Method: This mixed-methods study was conducted as part of an ongoing Washington state-funded evidence-based treatment (EBT) initiative called CBT+ which trains CMHPs serving youths in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, anxiety, trauma and behavior disorders (Dorsey et al., 2016). Participants (N=197) were CMHPs that participated in the 2022-2023 CBT+ training cohort and were predominantly masters-level, white, and identified as women. CMHPs were asked in a survey “How could your supervisor or agency help reduce your burnout?” and indicated whether or not (yes/no) each strategy was currently used by their supervisor/agency. Burnout solutions were coded inductively using thematic analysis by two independent coders who met weekly to resolve discrepancies. Confidence intervals were used to examine and compare the rates of use for the solutions endorsed by at least 10% of CMHPs.

Results: The solution that was currently being used the most by supervisors and agencies was Supervision sessions (92.11% of CMHPs said “yes, currently being used”; 95% CI [0.835, 1.007]). Other solutions that were reported to be used by more than 50% of supervisors and agencies included: Well-being check-ins (76.47%; 95% CI [0.622, 0.907]), Morale/team building (72.73%; 95% CI [0.575, 0.879]), Engaged supervisor (69.70%; 95% CI [0.540, 0.854]), Time off (including encouragement to take agency-provided vacation days; 64.38%; 95% CI [0.534, 0.754]), and Flexible work arrangement (60.71%; 95% CI [0.426, 0.788]). Solutions that were currently being used the least by supervisors and agencies were General self-care (46.55%; 95% CI [0.337, 0.594]) and Manageable caseload (37.14%; 95% CI [0.211, 0.532]).

Discussion: Overall findings suggest that supervisors and agencies likely use strategies that are most feasible given their existing time and resources, such as having supervision sessions and checking in on provider’s well-being. Supervisors and agencies likely do not employ strategies that are outside of their control, for example, allowing for a manageable caseload due to productivity requirements in community mental health. Promoting self-care among providers appears to be an underused, but potentially viable strategy that supervisors can use to address provider burnout. These suggestions can help supervisors and agencies decide on which strategies to implement to reduce CMHP burnout, and ultimately increase the quality of mental health care for youths.