Beatha Coaching

Recently I had the pleasure of working with a small group of academics, all at different stages in their career journey, through the Summer Coaching Programme. Over three months we explored how burnout happens, what recovery and repair look like, and in our final session last week, how we can resource ourselves against burning out again. I wanted to share the content from that session here because burnout is often treated as something endemic to the public sector, and to high-functioning people in general, and as somehow an acceptable cost of working in these fields. I think it is important to highlight that burnout is not inevitable. And whilst it can be prevented by adequate self-care (more on what this actually means below), simply prioritising and taking those actions requires huge effort and an act of the will. It is, in fact, an act of resistance in a system that does not create the conditions for healthy, mental health sensitive, working practises.

What is resource?

Resource is a term from trauma-informed practice. In the 1995 ACE study of adverse childhood experiences and how they impact the long-term wellbeing of individuals, traumatic conditions in childhood were highlighted as a significant factor for predicting mental, emotional, and physical health later in life, as well as social and career success. Children who experienced four or more ACEs were considerably more likely to manifest symptoms of complex-post traumatic stress and chronic health conditions in adulthood. However, the ACE study also identified that children with access to resource in their lives had a reduced incidence of negative outcomes from their traumatic experiences. Resource equates to those factors in our lives that enable us to come out of a prolonged stress response and experience safety. The key resources for children who experienced ACEs were: at least one caring and supportive relationship (this could be an alternative care giver, a teacher, the parent of a friend); some help to understand and manage strong feelings and emotions; and some support developing skills in communication and problem solving. Where children had access to these resources, they were better able to endure a disadvantaged childhood without long-term negative outcomes.

Burnout is usually a result of a series of adverse experiences coming together to impact a person’s working life in a negative way – let’s call these ‘adverse workplace experiences’ or AWEs. As I highlighted in my previous post, a key indicator of a toxic workplace is a lack of space to speak openly about harmful experiences. By contrast, a workplace that acknowledges the strain it places on its employees and demonstrates a willingness to listen and change is a space in which individuals are more likely to thrive. We can therefore call an open and communicative workplace culture, a resource. So far so logical, but what about a system that valorises AWEs as part of the price of success, such as the culture of overwork and competition that now dominates UK HE? In these circumstances, we cannot look to the workplace itself to provide the resource to prevent burnout.

I want to be very clear that I am not absolving workplaces of their responsibility to employee wellbeing and mental health. On the contrary, I consider the current sorry state of UK academia a resounding indictment of the neoliberal systems that dominate the sector. However, pointing out the connection between burnout and normalised workplace practices is one thing, actually generating change is another. Whilst we work and wait for the sector to change (or implode), our most vital act of resistance may be to ensure we do not go down with it. If you are working in academia right now, I would like you to internalise this one thought: your job is not worth your health.

Resourcing for burnout prevention

Burnout resource starts from a simple premise – it is always entirely unique. What one person experiences as an AWE that causes significant stress, may not result in the same level of distress for someone else. As with all forms of trauma, our nervous systems respond to triggers based on a complex pattern of associations that are personal to us. The work to care for ourselves in a toxic workplace therefore needs to be person-centred, that is, you need to work out what you need and how to access it.

Having said this, there are some predictable foundations that are universal. If we want to prevent burnout we need to think about the basic building blocks of wellbeing: water, sleep, nutrition, daylight, movement, social interaction. These are the things we need at a minimum to be mentally and physically healthy. If you already know you will be struggling with these foundations by week four or five of term, then start here. What do you need to put in place now to ensure that you get adequate rest, hydration, daylight, daily movement, nutrient rich food (this can be snacks on the run not just meals), and loving social connection with safe people?

Beyond these basics, there are other tools we can use to provide resource against the impact of AWEs. Mental health care is one of these, which might be anything from a journaling practice or a safe space to talk, to professional support and medication. By mental health care I mean the help to manage strong feelings and emotions, and the space to develop better skills in communication, that were highlighted in the ACE study. These tools remain just as vital in adulthood as resource against trauma. Common topics that come up in my coaching with clients, and which I would nest under the heading of mental health care, are: negative self-talk and the inner critic; unpleasant stress; imposter syndrome; struggling with boundaries; the ability to regulate when experiencing workplace violence and discrimination; paralysing anxiety; creative blocks. None of these are challenges that you should simply have to push through alone as though there is some kind of special prize for being tired and miserable at the end of semester.

Fun and play is just as important. In a workplace that wants to be the dominating force in your life, ensuring that your brain gets to switch off from work regularly and form new, creative connections, is a profound act of self-care. Beyond the basic foundations listed above, if you really want to invest in your mental and emotional wellbeing, do something every day that brings you joy and pleasure, and try something new and playful every week. Our brain health is directly tied to fun experiences and forging new mental connections – as dementia studies are currently showing, the brain is an organ that loves to learn, and doing ‘play’ is a powerful way to keep learning through experiential acts of creativity and silliness. If it has been a while since you really laughed, or tried something new, this is a key resource in preventing burnout that you are missing.

Resilience is resistance…

The word ‘resilience’ has been co-opted by exactly the same models of work that drive burnout, used as a stick to beat us with when we struggle. Originally, though, ‘resilience’ came from the same trauma-informed insights as ‘resource’. It simply means the ability to go through stressful and traumatic situations without losing our health and mental wellbeing in the process. I would argue that caring for ourselves and making resilience a priority, not so that we can work more but so that we can work enjoyably whilst remaining healthy, is a powerful way to resist the demand that we become nothing more than productivity machines. As we head into a new academic year, or if you are in another sector and feeling the drain of ‘just making it to December’, what do you need to put in place to keep yourself resourced against burnout? And what are your goals to focus on, things you want in your life that losing yourself to burnout would prevent?

If you would like personal support with any of the work I’ve mentioned in this blog, or would like to be part of a community working together to resist the pressures of academia, I offer 1-2-1 coaching, monthly group coaching, and have an autumn coaching programme that you can find out more about here. Or get in touch and let me know what you would like help with to guide the content I produce. Or leave me a comment below.