Writing course offers relief as young care workers face rising strain

Young social and health care professionals are becoming overburdened early in their careers, while creative writing may offer a way to process work-related stress, Yle reports. A new course at Rovaniemi civic college will help professionals work through their experiences and emotions through writing.

The course was developed by writing instructor and practical nurse Virpi Yliraudanjoki, who recognised the need to process issues arising in care work after qualifying through an apprenticeship last spring.

“Both during my studies and at work, I felt there could be demand for a writing course like this,” Yliraudanjoki said.

Writing can be a useful way to process thoughts and experiences, said Olli Löytty, professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Turku. Putting experiences into words and transferring them to paper or a computer screen can itself bring a sense of relief, he said.

Young workers consider leaving the profession

Sari Viinikainen, an executive director at Tehy, a professional union, said young workers in the sector are becoming strained at the very beginning of their careers and quickly start considering a change of profession.

Many feel unable to do their work in accordance with the requirements of their professional ethics, Viinikainen said. She described that as particularly difficult at the start of a career.

Yliraudanjoki agreed that care work may appear exhausting rather than attractive to young people. She said the profession also contains many rewarding and positive experiences, which she hopes the course will highlight.

The employer is legally responsible for managing workload-related strain. Opportunities to recover and process the burden brought by work during free time are also important.

Unions have also introduced courses and further training for their members focused on recovery. Hundreds of Tehy members signed up within a few days for a recent course on understanding personal wellbeing and work-related stress.

Writing can put problems into perspective

Löytty said self-expression and interaction with others help people understand themselves. Writing about work can also help put problems into perspective by allowing them to be viewed as if from an outside observer’s position.

Yliraudanjoki said writing is an easy way to process thoughts and feelings. The text does not need to be special, and it does not necessarily need to be read even by the person who wrote it.

Viinikainen encouraged people to consider other ways of recovering if writing does not feel suitable. In her view, the most important thing is for employers to ensure that recovery is possible.

“In the social and health care sector, a person is the most important tool, and that tool needs to be in working order,” she said.

Yliraudanjoki’s course will be held in January at Rovaniemi civic college in Rovala and as an online course in October through Helsinki adult education centre.