The importance of resilience in the probation officers activity

Recent studies indicate that the resilience of probation officers seems to be strongly influenced, developed and strengthened, first by the organization and team characteristics, but also by behavior, professional skills and competences of the professional himself. In this paper a special attention will be paid to the risks and vulnerabilities existing in the Romanian probation system, regarding the way in which probation officers face the challenges and how all these may have an impact on the emotional health and performance of them, in order to develop adaptive work styles. Organizations / probation services need professionals who, despite many threats and challenges, are willing and able to help the offenders to change their lives. The probation as activity is a critical profession for the probation officers and their role is extremely important for a safe society, where the citizens can live a life without the danger of becoming victims of crimes. Risk and protective factors are analyzed in terms of resilience of probation officers and the research use The Stress Shield Model (SSMR, Burke & Paton, 2006; Paton et al, 2008), which define the resilience as the capacity to cope with, adapt to and develop from the demands, challenges and changes encountered as a result of working in a critical occupation.