Burnout and Mindset

Part 1: Burnout

Let’s get real for a minute.

You are a highly educated professional.  If you are reading this blog, I can assume you are invested in your career and your continued education.  You are probably pretty skillful, and you help a lot of people.

BUT

How are you doing once you leave work?

Does your life outside of work give you joy and fulfillment?

Or do you leave your work setting completely drained, snippy with your loved ones, and too tired to care for yourself?

You have at least one advanced degree, probably some certifications, but did anyone ever teach you how to get your paperwork done on time? 

Or how to leave work at work and not have your patients popping into your head day and night?

What about energy conservation?  In fact, we may have been taught to give our ALL to work, to our patients, to strive for productivity and accomplishment.  But where does that leave us?

BURNED OUT.

Part 2:  Mindset

Taking continuing education classes was my pathway to becoming a better physical therapist.

But I had to go to therapy to learn how to survive as a physical therapist.

There were struggles.

Paperwork.  I could NEVER finish in a timely way.

Timeliness.  I was OFTEN running behind for patients.

Discharge. I had some patients for YEARS because I did not know how to discharge them even though they weren’t getting better.  They depended on me, and I also depended on them.

Boundaries.  I had none. 

And here’s something that surprised me. 

I had to change the way I THOUGHT before I could change my BEHAVIOURS.

I had to change my mindset.

I used to show up at work with the idea of Helping People.  I felt responsible for their outcomes.  If they weren’t doing well, I assumed I was missing something.

The shift looked like this:

I can show up at work to coach people who are responsible for their own outcomes.  If they aren’t doing well, we can have honest communication about next steps (medical or otherwise), discharge, or resistance.

My patients are not my family, they are not my friends.  I show up as a coach who is very interested in understanding their story and helping them reach their goals through a shared responsibility model of care.

My free time is sacred.  I need to protect it for my mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health.  Because I am a priority, I will use 5 minutes of each treatment session to complete the patient’s treatment by doing paperwork.

Now, therapy is INVALUABLE.  Don’t get me wrong, but paperwork, timeliness, discharge, and healthy boundaries are things MANY of us struggle with.  So Nari Clemons and I designed a Continuing Education COURSE.  We believe that therapists deserve to learn skills to preserve our wellbeing and strengthen our resilience against burnout. 

Especially since the pandemic, more and more health care workers are reporting very high levels of burnout.  Nari Clemons and I went through a period of burnout earlier in our careers.  The tools and techniques we learned to heal ourselves and develop new patterns of delivering care are powerful.  We know you might also be struggling and we want to help.  So we developed a course to equip you.  We would love to learn with you at Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation.  A two-part, online journey toward experiencing a practice you enjoy and a life you love.

Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation is a two-part series intended to be completed in order. Participants should register for Part 1 and Part 2 at the same time, or complete Part 1 and wait to complete Part 2 at a later date. This course was developed by Nari Clemons, PT, PRPC, and Jennafer Vande Vegte, PT, PRPC and was "born out of our own personal and professional struggles and our journey to having a life and a practice that we love and can sustain." The intention of this class is deep, personal, and professional transformation through evidence-based information and practices. Both Part One and Part Two have a significant amount of pre-work to digest and practice before meeting via Zoom. Nari shares that "This sets the stage for you to find your path to experiencing more joy, energy, and balance."

Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation - Part 1 - Remote Course

In Part One, participants begin their process of study, meditation, and self-reflection in the weeks prior to the start of the class. Pre-work includes focusing on the neuroscience of pain, trauma, PTSD, and meditation. Participants will learn about the powerful influence both negative and positive experiences have on our nervous system’s structure and function. Personal meditation practice and instruction will create changes in the participant's own nervous system. Participants will also learn how to prescribe meditation for various patient personalities and needs, as well as analyze yourself through inventories on coping, self-care, empathy, burnout, values as well as track how you spend your time. Commitment to pre-work will facilitate rich discussion as we put what you have learned into practice around building a shared responsibility model of patient care, language to support difficult patients, and both visualizing and planning steps to create new, healthier patterns in your life and in your practice.

Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation - Part 2 - Remote Course

Part Two continues the focus on personal and professional growth for the participant, with a deeper dive into meditation and self-care practices. Yoga is introduced as a means of mindful movement and energy balance. Participants will learn to identify unhealthy relational patterns in patients and others, and skills on how to use language and boundaries to create shifts that keep the clinician grounded and prevent excessive energic and emotional disruptions. There is a lecture on using essential oils for self-care and possibly patient care. Learning new strategies to preserve energy, wellness, and passion while practicing appropriate self-care and boundaries will lead to helpful relationships with complex patients. This course also includes a discussion of energetic relationships with others as well as the concept of a "Higher Power". Course discussion will also include refining life purpose, mission, and joy potential, unique to the individual participant. The goal is that the participating clinician will walk away from this experience equipped with strategies to address both oneself and one's patients with a mind, body, and spirit approach.