How to not burn out

Burn Out! The struggle is real. 

Bookmark this page as we share tips on how to not burn out in the care industry. 

Calling all front line worker, all Allied Health Professionals, Nurses, Occupational Therapy Assistant’s, Heath Care Assistants, Carers and everyone else who has to deal with stress, this blog post is dedicated to you.

We could easily spend the next year talking about how tough 2020 has been, a pandemic on this scale has never been experienced before in anyones lifetime.

The NHS was already stretched (now arguably beyond breaking point) and the silent generation most at risk and locked away from the rest of society.

Anyone and everyone close to frontline or key workers have had to dig deeper and find more and more within them to carry on. 

The long term effects of Covid-19 are yet to be fully understood, we are already seeing the impacts on physical health, with Long Covid symptoms including fatigue and muscular pain. It is believed we are yet to see the long term impacts on mental health. The biggest difference between mental health and physical health is you don’t need to have caught Covid-19 to experience the mental health impact of it.

In a paper published in 2010 ‘The Impact of the Epidemic Outbreak’ by Paul S.F Yip et al, following the 2003 SARS global outbreak, we saw a 30% increase in suicides in those over 65 in countries most effected.

‘The psychological impact of COVID-19 and other viral epidemics on frontline healthcare workers and ways to address it: A rapid systematic review’ (Sonja Cabarkapa et al, 2020) demonstrated that all front line staff/key workers are at increased risk of acquiring trauma or stress related disorders, depression and anxiety. 

Understanding and acknowledging the risks is essential, but once we know the risks how can we deal with them. What can we do in the everyday to support ourselves?

So, here are our 7 tips to avoid burnout:


1.You don’t have to go through this alone

Mental Health issues are nothing to be ashamed of.

According to British Association for counselling and psychotherapy (BACP) 25% of people living in Britain will experience mental health issues at any time in one year, and let’s remember that 25% is during a normal year, and not living through a pandemic!

Understand that mental health is just as important and physical health and sometimes you need help dealing with it. If you have never had any counselling and don’t know what to expect have a look at this website - https://welldoing.org/experience-of-therapy to gain an insight as to how counselling can help.

If you are not in a place were you think you need professional help, have a look at local resources, like ‘Stitch n Bitch’ (social knitting groups) or other social groups you can join remotely via platforms like MeetUp.

2. Understand Resilience

What is resilience?

Why do we need to have it? 

Resilience is the ability to be tough or bounce back. The ability to emotionally or mentally cope with a crisis or bounce back to pre-crisis status quickly is known as psychological resilience. 

If we think of our resilience as a muscle we can build up, there are ways we can work on our resilience to “strengthen” it - especially useful in unprecedented times we are facing right now.

Strengthen your resilience by taking a step back and looking holistically at yourself. How is your emotional wellbeing, could you support yourself more? How is your self respect and ability to identify and control your emotions? How is your physical health? Could your sleep be improved, are you eating to nourish and support your body, could a daily walk give you a boost? Consider your goals and any personal development, can you give yourself the gift of knowledge through books or podcasts to feel like you are supporting your inner drive toward your goals? Finally take a look at your relationships, family, friends, peers and colleagues - a strong social network and the people we surround ourselves with help provide us with the emotional and physical support we need to develop our resilience.

3. Decatastrophizing

Right now, it is a lot easier to turn something small into something big. 

At home in our relationships after a year of back to back lockdowns, thinking someone is not going to fill the dish washer “the right way” can make you want to scream the house down. 

Or at work, someone eating your sandwich (completely unacceptable) can make you want to scream “MY SANDWICH” but are these things really the end of the world or are we just catastrophizing? As in, are we making mountains out of mole hills? 

So what can we do when it feels like the world is going to end and our mind is racing? 

First, step away from the situation, take 5 and breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Next, reflect, what exactly are you worried about? Is it the sandwich or is that a catalyst for something else? 

If it did happen, (lets say the sandwich did get eaten) how awful would it be, I mean you might be hungry but you can get another sandwich! Rate it on a scale 1-10.

Then, have a dose of reality, and honestly think, how likely is it that this will happen, 

If it did happen how would you react vs. how would you want to react? White hot rage or calm and collected. What methods do you have to help you get from rage to calm? 

Now your more collected, how awful could it be in reality? Rate it again again on a scale 1-10.

Reflect again, what are your thoughts now.

Have you managed to decatastrophize it? 

It’s likely you have. 

The important thing is, when we look at someone holistically we are able to identify any issues quicker and implement change to prevent deterioration. 

4. Get organised and monitor your thoughts

As we saw before it is easy to turn small things into catastrophic situations. But if we look at what might be an alarm or trigger we can be more prepared. Sit down with a pen and paper and actual write down what might be seen as a trigger. 

Look at the Who’s, what’s, where’s, when’s, and why’s. Once you have identified what might be a trigger, next look at your beliefs. 

Determine how strong you believe in this give it a %. 

Then look at the consequences, think about how your reaction to these believes may impact on your mental health and relationships with others. 

Fore warned is fore armed, preparing yourself mentally by identifying triggers builds your psychological resilience and reserves. 

5. Look at situations from different angels gives us a whole new perspective

The 5 E’s

Examine, Explore, Expose, Expand & Experiment 

Examine, what evidence there is for and against a thought or emotion. 

Explore the personal to you reasons why you might have this thought? 

Expose any biases you might have influencing it. 

Expand your viewpoint to gain a more rounded view of what’s happening. 

Experiment, find a new and exciting way of reacting. 

6. Mindfulness 

What is mindfulness? At its core it is our ability to pay attention, fully, in a moment. 

Our minds are used to excessive stimulation and entertained all the time. In general, people have difficulty or would even find it boring to be doing nothing. 

Mindfulness is a concept that improves our ability to retain awareness and focus on what we are doing in any given moment. It means letting go of resistance and simply being with what is. 

By paying conscious attention to the unfolding of each emotion, you are able to delay or even eliminate the exaggerated reaction that accompanies negative emotions. Our ability to inhibit maladaptive emotional patterns is referred to as “executive control” improving your executive control may result in increased will power and enhanced resilience to stress. By using the tips above, such as the 5 E’s or Decatastrophising, you are actively improving your executive control and essential step in reducing stress levels in everyday life. 

Let’s take the next 5 minutes, stop everything. Close your eyes and actively listen, don’t judge don’t comment. Just listen. To the traffic, the birds, all the noises that surround you and go deeper see if you can listen to what is going on inside you. Actively listen. This is your introduction to mindfulness and strengthening your resilience. 

7. Sanctuary

So far everything we discussed is active, but sometimes the best thing to do for your mental health is to find your own personal sanctuary. For me, a hot bath, epsom salts, a candle and spa music. Feels like heaven. Find out what your sanctuary is and indulge! 

How resilient are you? 

There are some great free online tests that can help you determine how resilient you are and therefore give you more of an idea of how your are coping with stressors in your life. resiliencyquiz.com. or for more detail, here is another free online test: www.testyourrq.com.

Run a service? Have a family/friends, you can even email us and we can send you a print out version of a resilience assessment you can keep as a reference! 

Are you a carer? Do you live in Hackney? Are you aware of Carers First? This is a Charity working with unpaid carers to provide practical information and advice. Sunday Care Therapy are delighted to say we will be providing free training to carers via Carers First, online. 

Is there any area you feel you would like you would need extra training on, then get in touch and we can see how we can help. 

Are you a Care Assistant? Feel like you need a new exciting challenge, then come be part of the Sunday Care Therapy team, we are always looking at recruiting to our tribe. Work with us to turn care into a career. 

Do you or any loved ones need care? Contact us for a free OT assessment, let us work with you on what is important to you.