More than Emotional Coping: Cultivating Resilience in Human Services Volunteering

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, (b) reframing and transforming the struggle, and (c) 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.