More than Emotional Coping: Cultivating Resilience in Human Services Volunteering

Abstract

This study examined volunteer coping and resilience processes in emotionally-taxing work. Based on the reflections of 34 client-facing volunteers with a nonprofit that supports people experiencing homelessness, survivors of human trafficking, and refugee children, we identified four primary processes of volunteer resilience: (a) preemptive support offered at an individual level, (b) promotion of periodic rest from volunteering, (c) reframing and transforming the struggle, and (d) invoking spiritual identity anchors. These findings contribute to resilience theorizing by underscoring the necessary role of both routine social support and rest from emotion work in resilience processes.

Keywords:

• Emotion Work
• Empathy
• Resilience
• Volunteering

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Statement

The IRB at Texas Christian University (Chair: Kristen Carr) granted ethical approval for this study in June 2019, ensuring that the research meets all national and international guidelines for research on humans (IRB# M-1906-171-1906). After initial submission, the study was exempted from further review because the research posed no more than minimal risk to participants and ensured participant anonymity.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katherine Ann Rush

Katherine Ann Rush (M.S., Texas Christian University) is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on positive organizational scholarship and resilience in nonprofit contexts. She has been published in Qualitative Research Reports and the Western Journal of Communication.

Lacy G. McNamee

Lacy G. McNamee (PhD, University of Texas) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Baylor University, USA. Her research focuses on how members negotiate their roles and influence in nonprofit and voluntary organizations and has been published in journals including Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Health Communication, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Johny T. Garner

Johny T. Garner (PhD, Texas A&M University) is a professor at Texas Christian University. His main interests include organizational dissent, workgroups, and communication in nonprofit organizations. His research has been published in journals such as Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and the International Journal of Business Communication.