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Writer's pictureEddie

Burnout - It's Getting Hot in Herre

Before you say anything, yes I know it's spelled wrong but this is how Nelly spells it in the song so that's how I'm going to spell it.


Burnout sucks. A lot. Being a therapist, I get a lot of my sense of fulfillment in my work from helping others. So when there have been times that I have felt burnout and like I can't keep doing the work, it would make me feel less than and like I wasn't good enough for this job.


It's tough too because in our role, you would naturally think that supervisors and clinic managers would be aware of this and would want to do everything in their power to stop burnout from happening but I know that is not always the case. Sometimes things are just out of our control. Community mental health clinics, for example, (unfortunately) don't naturally have anti-burnout protections in place. It will get talked about a lot and supervisors will take 10 minutes in a staff meeting to say why burnout is bad but the part of the job that may lead to burnout (high case loads, high turnover, lack of adequate support) doesn't always get addressed. And again, somethings are out of our control. As community mental health clinics, there are no wait lists and you can't turn away clients in need (I think because of funding through state and federal grants) so that will naturally lead to this large number of people who need help with a most likely small number of therapists there who can help.


Another piece to burnout that I have experienced is the lack of supportive supervision/management.


Picture this - you're already feeling burnout, you're feeling like you're not good enough at your job, you're doing the best you can but it' still not enough. So what do you do? You try to talk to someone in charge. In a supportive setting, you get help and care that you need that helps you feel more capable and like you can keep going. But when the opposite happens (I may be speaking from personal experience), your doubts about yourself as a professional only grow. Instead of having someone in your corner who can help you through this, they make it worse and remind you of your inadequacies. Work gets tougher, your ability to get out of bed each morning gets worse, and ultimately your clients suffer because they aren't getting the best version of yourself.


That shit sucks. It's tough too because if you are in a position where you can leave a role where you are feeling burnout, there is a little voice in the back of your head telling you that ultimately you were the problem and no matter where you go, the same issues will come up. That's hard to deal with too. There is already a lot of self doubt in the role of a therapist so having to deal with this is just more you have to fight through.


So when does it get better? That part is hard to say. There is so much that goes into it. I know for me having things like peer support, phenomenal clinical supervision, and partner support helped me a lot. Going to therapy was important for me too. We have a few more specifics in our more recent episode but really I would lean on trusting your gut - if you're feeling burnout out, don't try to convince yourself that you're not. Lean on the supports and skills that have been helpful for you in the past.


Recently, a student of mine shared that while right now they are having a hard time struggling with managing everything that goes into being a grad student, that these moments don't last forever and that the temporariness of the situation helps to keep them going. I wish I would have heard something like this back when I was 25-26 and early into my career, I think it would have helped a ton.

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