Speak your truth: burnout – Q10

Panel members

• Kate Read (KR) – Founder/CEO, Inspires & Co
• Rachel Arnold (RA) – Founder and Lead Support Coordinator, Latitude Support Coordination
• Zena Dyson (ZD) – Specialist Support Coordinator/Team Leader, Esteem Care Services
• Kylie Walker (KW) – Owner, Healthy Emporium
• Sarah Milliken (SM) – Team Leader & Support Coordinator, Let's Connect Support Services
• Veronica Santomingo (VS) – Support Coordinator, Richmond Fellowship Queensland
• Sabine Hazlett (SH) – Support Coordinator, Lifestyle Mentor Services
• Aylin Taylor (AT) – Support Coordinator, Tailored Options
• Elizabeth Hickey (EH) – Support Coordinator, AFA Support Coordination
• Stephen Hughes (St H) – Specialist Support Coordinator, Wellspace Australia
• Danni Bament (DB) – Managing Director, Aspire Recovery Connection

What are your top tips for identifying the signs of burnout and addressing it before it occurs – and how do you put these into practice?

KR – Watch your staff – are they taking good breaks, do they have time out, what is their caseload like? They become erratic, very up and down, fatigued, and start taking sick days.

RA –

1. Recognising my own stress levels, and ensuring I allocate some time to myself.
2. Having a flexible roster (as I can have a day off and work later that night if needed).
3. Working without distractions around you – I have been 50 per cent more productive working from home than I ever was working in an office.
4. Having a clear job description, and being allowed to only do the one job (support coordination).

ZD – The biggest sign of burnout I experience, which always makes me stop and address it immediately, is the beginning signs of emotional exhaustion, accompanied by the start of depletion in energy.

This is like my STOP SIGN to recognise and relax more out of work hours, maybe take a short holiday, and recharge.

SM –

1. Note when you are taking more time off due to just feeling off or not being able to focus. This is your body’s way of telling you that something needs to give.
2. Keep an eye out for times when you can’t be bothered doing the things that you normally enjoy doing in your free time. Not everyone wants to go hiking on a Saturday, but when simple things like catching up with friends or spending time in the garden are becoming less frequent, you need to reassess where you are at in your role and start to identify strategies you can employ to lessen the chances of burnout.
3. If the company you work for offers things like EAP or any other company ‘perks’, particularly relating to wellness, use them!

VS –

1. Feeling exhausted? Try to take a rostered day off or do nothing in personal time to rest and rejuvenate.
2. Feeling overwhelmed and stressed? Speak to your manager, arrange to speak with a counsellor.
3. Feeling frustrated and annoyed with clients? Debrief with co-workers/team mates to discuss better strategies.

SH – LOL – well, the first one would be getting out of bed and not having a keen attitude to go to work and tackle the challenges ahead. A quick call to colleagues, with a few laughs and jokes, always helps. If need be, taking an extra day off helps.

The main thing is to have a great team around you, this is why I took a long time considering who I work with. At the end, it is all about your life choices, and for me finding a great team to work with was my top priority.

AT –

1. Continually checking your phone and email and answering texts, calls and emails after hours? Don’t answer emails or calls or texts before and after business hours unless it's an absolute emergency.
2. Lack of sleep and appetite and/or poor nutrition? Sleep early, exercise, practice mindfulness and manage diet.
3. Not seeking help and support when needed? Ask for/seek help and support from other work colleagues/team leader/manager, or if you work independently like I do, speaking with friends who understand the industry has helped a great deal.
4. Also, cats are amazing!

EH – Burnout is such a hard thing, usually I am well on the way to burnout before I identify it. However, there are some things I can identify easily that, if I see them, can help me reduce the impact.

1. Working too many hours – being careful about the hours you work and learning how many hours you can work in the support coordinator role.
   
   This one is easy – usually it will settle on its own (so long as I am mindful of my client load), so I just need to ride it out and be extra mindful to implement my self-care practices.
   
2. Being frustrated – usually it is the most mundane of things (like the third client in the week calling to say they need a new cleaner), but when I catch myself getting off the phone and all I want to do is scream (not because the client has done something wrong, but because I have to find yet another cleaner), I know I am well on the way to burnout.
   
   First – Scream, there is nothing better than getting out the frustration. Second is to then identify exactly what is frustrating you – or is it something else? Usually, for me, it will be something unresolved or that I am tired or the hardest one – everyone is burnt out and, as such, we are all experiencing the same thing. Once again, evaluate the number of hours you’re doing, get in touch with your mentor/supervisor, and enact your self-care.
   
3. My partner trying to cheer me up and it not working – when my work affects my home life, I know I am in need of help or burnout is not far away.
   
   When work comes home and affects my home life, things are getting close to breaking point. Making sure you have good supports in your personal life and are doing things that are not just work/caring related is important. Make sure you let people know you’re not doing well and get help.

(DB) – The most important thing in my experience is knowing what the physical signs are when your stress is increasing and you’re starting to feel overwhelmed. Our bodies will show the signs of this, before our minds are aware of it. We may have a knot in our stomach, our shoulders might be tight, or our back sore - we all have ways of stress showing up in our body.

When we can listen to our body and identify these signs, we can recognise and respond to it sooner and before it’s too late. When we do identify these physical signs, we then need to have strategies to put in place to take care of ourselves and stop the stress and overwhelm from escalating. That may be debriefing with a manager or colleague, taking a few minutes each day to do a meditation or go for a short walk. It may also be recognising how our behaviour has escalated and is not serving us. Perhaps we’ve stopped taking lunch breaks, we’re staying back and working late, taking calls after hours etc. Its about recognising those things, giving ourselves the permission and having the discipline to go back to our healthier work habits.