Mental health of helpers and self-care concept

Rad se bavi temom mentalnog zdravlja pomagača, uslijed čega je poseban naglasak stavljen na profesionalni stres, izvore profesionalnog stresa i profesionalno sagorijevanje pomagača. Pomagačka zanimanja ubrajaju se među najstresnija zanimanja. Obilježava ih neposredni kontakt s korisnicima kojima je potrebna pomoć, što ih prvenstveno čini stresogenima. Također, svakodnevno su suočena s različitim izvorima profesionalnog stresa, a posebice u trenutnim uvjetima prouzročenim pandemijom COVID-19, što se također spominje u radu. Sve navedeno, ukoliko pomagač ne vodi kvalitetnu brigu o sebi, dovodi do nepovoljnih posljedica, kao što je profesionalno sagorijevanje. Ono ujedno predstavlja i najnepovoljniju posljedicu izloženosti profesionalnom stresu. Rad se također dotiče razloga zbog kojih pomagači često ne brinu o sebi te, samim time, ugrožavaju sebe, ali i svoje korisnike. Stoga je cilj ovog rada ukazati na različite rizike kojima su izložena pomagačka zanimanja te, uz to, skrenuti pažnju na važnost održavanja kvalitetne brige pomagača o sebi. Naime, posao koji pomagači obavljaju i briga koju pružaju drugima, može biti dobra samo ukoliko pomagači vode adekvatnu brigu o samima sebi.This final work deals with the topic of mental health of helpers, where special emphasis is placed on professional stress, sources of professional stress and professional burnout of helpers. Helpers belong to occupations that consider to be among the most stressful occupations. Those occupations are characterized by direct contact with clients who needs help, which primarily makes them stressful. Also, they are faced with various sources of professional stress on a daily basis, but especially in current circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those factors, if helper does not take quality care of himself, lead to negative consequences, such as professional burnout. It also presents the most negative consequence of exposure to professional stress. In the work are also mentioned reasons why helpers often do not take care of themselves. Therefore, the aim of this work is to point out the various risks that helpers are faced with in their work and to emphasize the importance of self-care, because, the work that helpers do and the care they provide to others can only be good if they take quality care of themselves