I spent the first half of my adult working life in the people-helping industry as a pastor. It didn't take me long to notice that my colleagues and I, in the midst of all the caring, giving, and shepherding we continually gave to hurting, grieving, suffering, dying, and despairing people, often didn't have anywhere or anyone to go to for our own self nurture. In spite of all the talk, the organizational support was never adequate.
Healthcare is one of those industries that is facing a huge crisis - not just in patient care or in financial sustainability but especially in nurturing its caregivers.
According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll:
3 in 10 health-care workers have weighed leaving their profession;
more than half are burned out.
6 in 10 say stress from the pandemic has harmed their mental health;
1 doctor is dying from suicide every day (more than double that of the general population).
Burnout and Stress are not just an individual healthcare worker's problem. It's an organizational systemic issue that must be addressed wholeheartedly. Not just patient lives are at stake. So are the caregivers' lives.
The same applies to almost every industry.
If you are a leader, you, too, deserve support from your organization to provide all the tools and resources needed for your personal wellbeing. This is not a luxury. It is crucial to the success and effectiveness of everyone's work. It must become an organizational priority.
Here are some of the pressures that too often lead to chronic stress and anxiety and burnout. These are issues that every organization needs to address creatively and collaboratively.
workload pressures
staff shortages
long hours
lack of peer support opportunities and the time off needed for this to take place
mounting paperwork and email exchanges
expectation of being on call 24/7
a stigma around getting mental health help
not enough access to mental health therapies
lack of autonomy and a voice in organizational changes
more emphasis on productivity than self care (personal development)
shortage of providing professional development and training for leaders
fixing people instead of fixing systems
Every organization must address these issues that are tragically impacting leaders from so many industries. If they don’t, their people will continue to suffer and end up leaving as a result.
We have to care for the healers, too!
