Educators and Healthcare workers, you are exhausted. I have spent decades working in an industry of caring for others, only to find myself burned out from tending to their needs and ignoring my own. The stress factors given the current state of the affairs has more than likely left you pouring from an empty cup. Instead of finding joy; you’re digesting the emotional toll of your profession and left feeling stripped of your ability to be passionate about your job.
https://yhoo.it/3c0twhW
Medical professionals have always been vulnerable to burnout, anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Depicted as part of a “warrior culture”, as the article coins it, many professionals are seen as an impenetrable and are reluctant to ask for help. Numerous first hand accounts from frontline workers would suggest and secure the need for mental health therapies to be put in place specifically designed to help combat and treat symptoms of burnout.
https://to.pbs.org/3bX8L6P
Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs. Most schools have constant funding cuts, pressure from standardized testing, and over crowded classrooms. Teachers need to have more in their crowd control arsenal other than the phrase “Ok everyone, calm down and pay attention”. No one has been taught how to pay attention. Providing teachers with resilience training that include mindfulness and meditation have proven to be effective tools for supporting the educators well being.
Here is a mindful snack:
Bring awareness to your experience. Mindfulness can be applied to our senses, thoughts and emotions. Notice the experience without reacting to it.
Accept whatever it is you are struggling with. Acknowledge it for what it is, without judgement.
Respond to yourself with kindness. Observe how that helps get you back on track.
When your job is centered around caring for others in a highly stressful environment it becomes too easy to forget to care for yourself. These suggestions can make way for bigger strides towards the battle against burnout and compassion fatigue.