[Alicia Davis] So as we come to the end of this year Stacie, I know we probably have some folks that are watching us that might be feeling some stress and maybe even some burnout. And we wanted to talk about that, didn’t we?

[Stacie Watson] Yes, you know, we had the great privilege of being able to present a workshop at the recent Connecticut Nonprofit Alliance Annual Conference. It’s a huge conference – I think there were over 700 participants, and we had over 100 people – I think 120 people or something in our session. And the topic was burnout and compassion fatigue.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right and how to address them…

[Stacie Watson] And, yeah, I don’t think it’s an accident that that topic resonated with so many people at the conference. You know, these are all professionals in nonprofit work, and that, in and of itself, can be exhausting, and then if you layer on top of that, some of the, you know, busyness and demands of the season that we’re entering, it can be a lot. And, you know, one of the things we talked about during the conference was just interesting ways that burnout and compassion fatigue could sort of show up. You know, people talked about having very cynical colleagues, or just not having any patience, or feeling just this level of exhaustion that is not normal, doesn’t feel right or normal. And so today, we wanted to share just a quick thought about a way that we can support ourselves when we might be experiencing those things just as we kind of enter into what, for many of us, will be a very busy season, right?

[Alicia Davis] Well, right? And you know, it’s already begun, right? We just had the holiday last week. And you know, I think part of what we always talk about is, how do we begin with ourselves, right? And I think the really important theme, especially around burnout and compassion fatigue, is about how we reestablish or really focus on connection. And connection is both an internal experience as well as an external practice, right? And so I think in terms of connecting with self, you know, I think first and foremost, we want to just offer that – I guess it’s kind of the unfortunate thing – is that there are many people that are experiencing levels of burnout right now. If that is happening for you, especially if you are in the nonprofit sector, it’s, happening a lot, and give yourself a little bit of just kindness and compassion. Like it’s okay, it’s okay if you’re feeling that… it’s okay if you know you maybe don’t feel as maybe compassionate as you might normally. Like, I think the first and foremost thing is, like, just, how can you be just a little bit more easy, be a little bit do, do things for yourself that might feel a little bit more restorative, whatever those are for you. And then the other part of that is, how do you spend time with people that support you, right, in the ways that you know, that they care about your self-care and want to support you, you know, in a way that really matters to you, right?

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, you know, if you’re watching the video right now, we would invite you just to hit the pause button and just think about who are those people. Maybe it’s one person, it could be your partner, it could be a family member, it could be a friend, a faith leader, a coach, or a therapist. It doesn’t really matter who it is; just knowing that person is as invested in my well-being as I am invested in their well-being. You know that we have this very, you know, mutual relationship and concern for each other that can be a really helpful point of connection – back to your word, in these moments where we feel a little bit like not ourselves,

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. That’s right. And if this is a topic that’s resonating with you, or you’ve if you see this happening with your staff, we do have a session coming up next week, next Tuesday, the 10th in our Learning Academy, on Recognizing and Addressing Compassion, Fatigue, and Burnout that we’re going to explore this a little bit more. So I’m Alicia Davis…

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson…

[Alicia Davis] Thank you so much for watching. You can follow us or email us at info@TLStransforms.com. Thanks so much.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.