“How you keep going”: Voluntary sector practitioners' story‐lines as emotion work

Abstract

The voluntary sector acts as the last line of defense for some of the most marginalized people in societies around the world, yet its capacities are significantly reduced by chronic resource shortages and dynamic political obstacles. Existing research has scarcely examined what it is like for voluntary sector practitioners working amidst these conditions. In this paper, we explore how penal voluntary sector practitioners across England and Scotland marshaled their personal and professional resources to “keep going” amidst significant challenges. Our analysis combines symbolic interactionism with the concept of story‐lines. We illuminate the narratives that practitioners mobilized to understand and motivate their efforts amidst the significant barriers, chronic limitations, and difficult emotions brought forth by their work. We position practitioners' story‐lines as a form of emotion work that mitigated their experiences of anger, frustration, overwhelm, sadness, and disappointment, enabling them to move forward and continue to support criminalized individuals. Our analysis details three story‐lines—resignation, strategy, and refuge—and examines their consequences for practitioners and their capacities to intervene in wicked social problems.

“I’ll meet you at our bench”: adaptation, innovation and resilience among VCSE organisations who supported marginalised and minoritised communities during the Covid-19 pandemic in Northern England – a qualitative focus group study

“…This is a path less trodden in research – we know much less about the repercussions of the pandemic for VCSE staff and volunteers, particularly at a time of crisis. Recent focus groups undertaken with the penal voluntary sector have also illustrated the emotional labour undertaken by VCSE practitioners in order to mitigate experiences of anger, frustration, sadness and disappointment [ 11 ]. Meanwhile, research focusing on healthcare staff has recognised the cost of caring at times of crisis, including during the pandemic [ 35 , 36 ].…”

“…Whilst the origins and operations of Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sectors differ from country to country, worldwide they play a vital role in supporting the health and wellbeing of people who are marginalised or experiencing multiple complex needs. Indeed, some have described them as ‘the last line of defence’ for those most vulnerable in our society [ 10 , 11 ]. Whilst many studies have documented increases in the number of people supported and salience within specific countries, definitive global figures on the growth of VCSE sectors are not available as there is no single international repository of comprehensive statistics [ 12 ].…”

“I'll meet you at our bench”: Adaptation, Innovation and Resilience among VCSE organisations who supported marginalised and minoritised communities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern England – A Qualitative Focus Group Study

“…This is a path less trodden in research -we know much less about the repercussions of the pandemic for VCSE staff and volunteers, particularly at a time of crisis. Recent focus groups undertaken with the penal voluntary sector have also illustrated the emotional labour undertaken by VCSE practitioners in order to mitigate experiences of anger, frustration, sadness and disappointment (11). Meanwhile, research focusing on healthcare staff has recognised the cost of caring at times of crisis, including during the pandemic (35,36).…”

“…Whilst the origins and operations of Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sectors differ from country to country, worldwide they play a vital role in supporting the health and wellbeing of people who are marginalised or experiencing multiple complex needs. Indeed, some have described them as 'the last line of defence' for those most vulnerable in our society (10,11). Whilst many studies have documented increases in the number of people supported and salience within speci c countries, de nitive global gures on the growth of VCSE sectors are not available as there is no single international repository of comprehensive statistics (12).…”

Shaping the road to reentry: Organizational variation and narrative labor in the penal voluntary sector

“…Financial austerity, welfare state retrenchment, and the movement towards evidencebased interventions have intensified pressures on PVS organizations (Corcoran, 2011;Quinn et al, 2022;Tomczak, 2016). In a competitive field of social service provision, we contended that PVS organizations differentiate themselves from peers by advancing distinct roads to reentry.…”