Therapist burnout

I had a therapist once who was struggling with burn-out. I obtained something worthwhile from the therapy, but mostly I took care of his feelings before my own.

I believe that teletherapy has placed an enormous burden upon many therapists, especially those who use in-office techniques (sand tray, EMDR, and so on).

When my T looks overworked or unwell I tell her. I offer her compassion, and sometimes I listen to a few things that she seems to need to let out. But my therapist is quite open about her personal life.

I straight up asked T today about this. She said she is not feeling at all stressed or burnt out. Due to childcare issues, she has gone from working 3 days a week to less than 2. she has online group supervision twice a month. She also mentioned some of the ways she is able to increase self care because of being home so much. She did mention that some of the people in her supervision have talked some about it and things like how for some ot was hard to tall about COVID so much if she worked 40 hours she would ne burnt out. For her talking about COVID helped her process it herself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amyjay This is one thing I appreciate about the strong boundaries my therapist holds. She does self care really well, and keeps work and home completely separate. She isn't available after hours at all. There are times that I haven't appreciated this boundary of hers, but on the whole I do like that I can absolutely trust her to hold firm boundaries not only for the sake of holding the therapeutic frame, but for maintaining strong self-care.

Mine's like that, too. Initially I resented it, but what has happened is that I've learned to respect her boundaries, and to recognize that I have the right, and even responsibility, to practice good self-care, too. So it's worked out very well.

hi, sounds like a good time to dip into other support. mine is self-support, i'm good at attending to feelings and solving problems. best wishes