Unsettling the Currency of Caring: Promoting Health and Wellness at the Frontlines of Welfare State Withdrawal in Toronto

• Main Author: Skinner, Ana
• Other Authors: Wakefield, Sarah
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: community organizers; Welfare State Withdrawal; Neoliberal restructuring; Funding and Philanthropy; stress and burnout; non-profit industrial complex; health and wellness; 0366
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/42937

What does the prevalence of stress and burnout in community-based work reveal about the impacts of welfare state withdrawal? Drawing on the experiences of frontline community organizers in Toronto, this research argues that welfare state withdrawal is subsidized by a ‘Currency of Caring’ whereby frontline community organizers are expected to fill gaps in the social safety net, working to a point of burnout if necessary, because they care. This research investigates how funders operating within this context can promote health and wellness in community-based work. Broadly, research findings provide insights into how neoliberalism and welfare state withdrawal shape frontline community work in ways that exacerbate stress and burnout, and impede systemic change efforts. In addition, research findings describe the limitations and possibilities for funders to be allies in collective change efforts by being invested in the health and wellness of frontline community organizers.