Frontline child protection work is highly stressful, emotionally taxing and, at times, can result in secondary trauma. Additionally, statutory child protection organisations consistently experience high turnover and staff shortages, creating adverse workplace cultures and extra stress for their workforce. Consequently, there is a growing recognition of the need to develop organisational strategies to foster the wellbeing of the frontline child protection workforce. The aim of this paper is to offer some guidance to the management of child protection and related services by drawing on occupational health literature.

Key messages:

• Occupational health literature is increasingly informed by the positive psychology movement.
• Rather than focusing on deficits, positive psychology focuses on building personal attributes such as hope, optimism and efficacy.