Self-Care 3: How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

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By Sam Piha

 

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

 

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. In this post we explore how we can prevent youth worker burnout. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

“According to several studies, 21—67% of practitioners who provide psycho-emotional support in their fields have experienced high levels of burnout. This is because the nature of the work is one where ‘there’s a lot of use of self, which means that our emotional state comes into play in our connection and relationship with our client.’” [i] - Amos Ng, Outreach & Intervention Services at Trybe. 

According to Project GROW, “Youth workers told us that the need they see is so great, and often so urgent, that they ignore their own needs in order to meet those of others. Equally, the needs of vulnerable girls can seem so significant that it is easy to dismiss the needs and trials of fellow youth workers, whether staff or volunteers, as they seem insignificant in comparison. As youth workers, we can silence our own needs, and each other. This stoicism can lead to burnout, which does not serve our communities long term. Good youth workers will always be hard to find, and we need to ensure that the mental and physical health of these essential workers. Burnout makes a sustained approach to youth projects much more difficult. Yet even more significantly, it gives the girls we work with the idea that as women, our needs are not important. This creates a detrimental effect, as rather than learning the value of their worth though youth project, girls may internalize the idea that burnout is normal and struggle to advocate for their needs and rights in their families, communities and workplaces. As youth workers, we need to lead by example. 

Burnout can happen to all of us — and the more we care, the more we can set ourselves up to be unable to care anymore. This is especially so if we are working with young women and girls who are living in distressing conditions, or who tell us about traumas they have suffered. From hearing about others’ experiences, or witnessing bad things happening to others, we can become traumatized ourselves. Vicarious and secondary trauma are real, and don’t simply happen to us because we are ‘weak’ or ‘oversensitive’ Additionally, listening to many stories over time can lead to ‘empathy fatigue’. We can become de-sensitized. 

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Here are some of the symptoms of burnout for you to watch out for:

• Physical stress e.g. feeling tense, palpitations, stomach problems, headaches
• Emotional stress e.g. nightmares, flashbacks or anxiety, anger, racing thoughts, feeling jumpy or easily startled
• Exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, under pressure or powerless
• Needing sick days, feeling unable to rest or recharge
• Needing more time alone, away from others
• Feel disconnected from friends and family
• Losing a sense of self
• Loss of pleasure in daily activities
• Losing sense of purpose  

Here are some things that you can do to make sure you don’t burnout and lose the joy of your youth work: 

• Take regular breaks between work sessions, including to eat full meals and gain eight hours of sleep
• Set a regular schedule for yourself, and block out times when you will be available for calls, emails or meetings, and when you will not be available. Share these times with others you work with, so they are less likely to disturb you when you’re not working
• Be mindful of your own history of trauma, if you have one, and how this may impact you when listening to traumatic stories from youth you support
• Cultivate your own interests, hobbies and activities outside of youth work, even if it’s as simple as meeting a friend, taking a walk, or learning to cook a new meal
• Seek counseling if you feel you need it.” [ii] 

“Regularly disengaging from work to rest and focus on oneself has been shown to increase productivity, boost creativity and improve mental well-being, enabling practitioners to continue providing meaningful care and support for their clients.” [iii] 

END NOTES:

[i]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner

[ii]: Wonder Foundation, How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

[iii]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner