Liberation Healing Seattle

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Signs You Might Be Burned Out As A Therapist

Canh Tran

Signs You Might Be Burned Out As A Therapist

  • Feeling relief when a client cancels or no show

  • Fantasizing about not working

  • Fantasizing about quitting your job

  • Having consistent and ongoing thoughts like

    • What if I don’t go into work today?

    • What else could I do besides being a therapist?

    • Why did I go into this field?

    • I’m over it

    • This is too much

  • Consistent high levels of anxiety the day before work or before a client session

  • Lack of empathy for clients

  • Over empathizing with clients

  • Taking work home

  • Feedback from friends and family you are different in an unhelpful/ineffective way

  • Lashing out (judging, criticizing, blaming, demanding) at friends and family

  • Lashing out at yourself

  • Dreading going to work

  • Looking at the clock/time constantly to see when a session is about to be over

  • Feeling ineffective at your job

  • Feeling overwhelmed

  • Moral injury

  • Feeling constantly stressed

  • Loss of motivation

  • Procrastination

  • Feeling fearful something bad will happen

  • Feeling exhausted before, during, and after work

  • Feeling easily irritable and annoyed

  • Poor quantity and/or quality of sleep

  • Nightmares and dreams about clients, work, etc.

  • Difficulty with boundaries

  • Over boundaried

  • Lack of boundaries

  • Memory issues (forgetting about client details, forgetfulness, inattentive, memory fog)

  • Health issues such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues, cognitive issues, GI issues

  • Inappropriate crying and anger relative to the situation/experience

  • Increased

  • Panic attacks

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

Why People Get Burnt Out

  • Low pay relative to cost of living, debt, loans, etc.

  • Consistent exposure to trauma, crisis, suicidality, etc. (secondary trauma, compassion fatigue)

  • High client caseloads (you see clients once every 4-6 weeks, seeing 6-8 clients a day)

  • Toxic work culture (being expected to come in when sick, no work-life balance, working over normal work hours and it being an expectation, lack of quality supervision, managers/supervisors who lack empathy, etc.)

  • Administrative work such as meetings, notes, treatment plans, etc.

What You Can Do

  • Limiting or decreasing number of clients per day

  • Limiting or decreasing number of clients weekly

  • Taking extended breaks

  • Take a vacation

  • Travel

  • Spend time in nature (camp, hike, forest bathing, walks, gardening, beach, mountains, etc.)

  • Take a staycation

  • Eat nutritious foods

  • Move your body and exercise

  • Get quality and consistent amount of sleep

  • Decrease stress as much as possible

  • Seek supervision

  • Seek consultation

  • Spend time with friends and family (community care)

  • Spend time taking care of yourself (self care)

  • Seek and engage in personal therapy

  • Seek and engage in alternative treatments such as acupuncture, massage, body work, breath work, etc.