Mental health professionals are natural-born givers who make sense of the world through their feelings.  But what happens when they give and give, particularly in times of crisis, and try to take care of themselves after they’ve taken care of everyone else?  The result can be burnout, a classic darkening of mood and motivation related to their work that also negatively impacts their personal lives.

This presentation will help mental health professionals differentiate between burnout and its companion syndromes so attendees can understand the role of internalized administrative expectations and working conditions in putting a practitioner at risk for ethics violations and/or career abandonment.  Fortunately, these outcomes are optional, though self-care tips and tricks are seldom enough to defend against them.

What’s needed instead is a global/holistic solution that helps the person of the therapist revive creative mental processes so they can generate adaptive, rather than habitual, responses to their experiences.  Attendees thus will be introduced to Hinz’s Life Enrichment Model, a conceptual framework from the art therapy profession that supports integrative choices for moving beyond self-care and developing resilience in the face of burnout.  Using the structure of this model, attendees will begin to examine their own self-care strategies so they can celebrate strengths and address challenges in their quest to live—and practice—optimally. 

Mental health professionals are natural-born givers who make sense of the world through their feelings. But what happens when they give and give, particularly in times of crisis, and try to take care of themselves after they’ve taken care of everyone else? The result can be burnout, a classic darkening of mood and motivation related to their work that also negatively impacts their personal lives.

This presentation will help mental health professionals differentiate between burnout and its companion syndromes so attendees can understand the role of internalized administrative expectations and working conditions in putting a practitioner at risk for ethics violations and/or career abandonment. Fortunately, these outcomes are optional, though self-care tips and tricks are seldom enough to defend against them.

What’s needed instead is a global/holistic solution that helps the person of the therapist revive creative mental processes so they can generate adaptive, rather than habitual, responses to their experiences. Attendees thus will be introduced to Hinz’s Life Enrichment Model for supporting integrative choices to move beyond self-care and develop resilience in the face of burnout. Using the structure of this model, which is based on the art therapy profession’s Expressive Therapies Continuum, attendees will begin to examine their own self-care strategies so they can celebrate strengths and address challenges in their quest to live—and practice—optimally.