Burnout recovery
- lionessrising
- May 4, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 25
In May 2022, I decided to close my psychology practice. This was a difficult choice, but I realized I needed a break and no longer wished to work daily with complex trauma. Witnessing social injustice in this line of work often leads to significant burnout. It requires a great deal of objectivity to remain unaffected by systemic neglect and abuse. I spent several years working in the challenging area of mental health, assisting individuals who were suicidal and clients who lacked access to support. I maintained low fees, focusing on suicide prevention and postvention, disability advocacy, sexual assault, and complex trauma.
This article has information on vicarious trauma:
I saw children being excluded or abused and I confronted the adults in the systems who failed to report these issues. I heard traumatic stories that brought me to tears and lingered in my mind for a long time. I felt compelled to act. I wrote letters to school principals, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and politicians. I assisted parents in preparing to advocate for reasonable accommodations for their children in school meetings and guided them on where to direct their complaints.
Advocating for clients is frowned upon in some professions, and being vocal made me unpopular. I provided feedback to the Disability Royal Commission and other regulatory bodies.
I provided therapy to numerous children who were "outliers" with challenging behaviors. For suicidal children reporting abuse, I responded to after-hours calls from parents, worked on weekends, and made exceptions to see them during crises, as they had nowhere else to turn. I was deeply committed.
So I over extended myself and I tried hard. Vicarious trauma is when we take in all the stories and they impact on us, and they start to seep into our own lives. I never mastered the ability to witness abuse and stay detached. Some therapists can do this really well. Objectivity and professionalism is required. My lack of rigid boundaries meant I was not focusing enough on my own energy levels.
As therapists we are responsible for our own self care and we need to step out of the work when we are tired. In July 2022, I was tired. Burnout comes on slowly but once it sets in, it is hard to recover.
A link to an article on health worker burnout