“Is anyone else feeling super burnt out from complex patients right now? I’ve been in pelvic health for 20 years and used to see a lot of easy urinary incontinence patients who all got better fairly quickly. Now all I have is pudendal neuralgia, pelvic pain, and bowel dysfunction. I can’t remember the last SUI patient I had!!”
This week I was tagged in a social media post, that started with the above inquiry…and quickly filled up with thirty-six replies from therapists all over the US, with comments like:
- “The burnout is real.”
- “Mental health issues of today are complicating our patients’ presentations.”
- “Some days I wish for a straightforward TKA.”
- “It’s mentally exhausting.”
- “The simple solutions are rare.”
- “There is so much going on in our world, toxin exposure, stress, work expectations, loneliness, less access to nature and healthy food, less access to being outside…our health is suffering.”
- “The better our skills, the more complex our patients become.”
The last is a favorite. You, dear therapist, INVEST and WORK HARD to EQUIP yourself to serve a population of patients that is ever-increasing in complexity.
You are taking clin ed, watching social media posts, reading books and articles to keep up.
BUT have you thought of equipping yourself to better serve…YOURSELF?
How many of us…
- Give so much, day in and day out, feeling like we are left with only crumbs for ourselves and our loved ones?
- Feel frustrated by patients who seem to have very little buy-in to their own health management?
- Are never able to complete paperwork within a patient session?
- Feel energetically dumped on and drained by some patients?
As rehab professionals, we were taught SO MANY SKILLS to take a good history, perform a thorough evaluation, and apply meaningful treatments. But most of us were never taught how to:
- Have healthy boundaries in patient care
- Protect our own physical and energetic bodies from becoming over-taxed
- Skillfully manage time to make sure we can complete tasks like paperwork
- Involve patients in a SHARED RESPONSIBILITY model of care
- Impact our patients' NERVOUS SYSTEMS in a meaningful way to enable the healing process to occur
If you can relate to this post, please consider joining us for Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation. A two-part course dedicated to supporting YOU in how you show up for your patients, your loved ones, and YOURSELF.
Born out of our combined experience of significant burnout, Nari and I are dedicated to equipping and empowering you to be the best, healthiest version of YOU as you work and as you live. Please join us and experience what others have said about this course:
- I loved the class; enlightening and freeing that I am not responsible for my patients' process - just a coach; also that I am actually robbing them of self-confidence when I do not give them responsibility for their own progress.
- This course is so needed for so many practitioners! Highly recommend to anyone and everyone!
Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation is being offered on these days:
- Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation - Part 1 April 20th and October 26th
- Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation - Part 2 May 19th and November 23rd
Hope to see you!
Jen and Nari