Samenvatting

In the performance of their work, probation officers are confronted with the emotions of clients and with their own emotions. We asked fifteen probation officers which emotions they encounter in their work, how they express emotions in the interaction with their clients and what they need to maintain their resilience despite the emotional burden of their work. The emotions they experience range from caring, pride, passion to indignation, irritation and disgust. Probation officers realize that expressing emotions is not always desirable in the light of building a working alliance and working on recidivism reduction and reintegration. By means of surface acting and deep acting (Hochschild, 1983) they find their way in sometimes hiding and sometimes feigning emotions. Probation officers indicate that they need space to let off steam and on the other hand the opportunity to reflect with colleagues about what can and cannot be expressed in contact with their clients.