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Teacher Burnout is a Mental Health Crisis: Interview with Dr. Natalya Bogopolskaya & Dr. Kendrea Hart | Episode 115

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Teacher Burnout is a Mental Health Crisis: Interview with Dr. Natalya Bogopolskaya & Dr. Kendrea Hart | Episode 115

Anyone who has been a teacher knows the work is hard, and at the same time — when work is working well — immensely rewarding. The work can be purposeful and filled with close relationships a vibrant communities.

No one enters the teaching profession to become rich and famous — they enter for the difference they will make.

And yet, our nation is facing a mental health crisis among our educators; one of burnout and demoralization. Many are operating in survival mode due to complete emotional exhaustion. The stressors they face are significant:

  • Safety concerns related to mass school shootings and drug use

  • Funding deficits

  • Labor shortage

  • Meeting escalating physical and emotional needs of students

  • Unrealistic expectations from districts and parents

  • Just to name a few…

Teachers’ well-being is something most communities overlook in their intention to always put students first. In this episode I speak with two school psychologists who express grave concern about educators’ psychological health and safety — and also make concrete suggestions on what we can do to help them.

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Poetry as an Antidote to Burnout - A Nurse's Perspective on Healing Practices: Interview with Susan Farese | Episode 105

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Poetry as an Antidote to Burnout - A Nurse's Perspective on Healing Practices: Interview with Susan Farese | Episode 105

Burnout is costly to employers in several ways:

  1. Employee turnover

  2. Increased risk of worker injury or error

  3. Deteriorating culture as energy becomes misdirected toward scapegoating

Contrary to conventional wisdom, burnout is not solely related to workload, it’s also related to feeling like “a cog in a machine.” When an unsustainable workload becomes even more stressful due to a lack of clarity, lack of control and an effort-reward imbalance, relationships become strained and people become siloed.

According to leading researchers, burnout is identified when three psychological states exist:

  • High levels of cynicism: an indifference, negative perspective

  • High levels of exhaustion: emotional, spiritual and physical

  • Low levels of professional efficacy: the belief in ones ability to make a difference.

Burnout can creep into a workplace and worsen over time. It often starts with an erosion of engagement. Work shifts from important, interesting and meaningful to exhausting. Next comes the erosion of emotions, where cynicism, anger, anxiety and depression start to surface. Finally, burned out workers comes to experience a mismatch between themselves and the organization. They lose faith that the organization has their best interests at heart.

In this episode, I have a delightful conversation with Susan Farese, RN - a healthcare worker and mentor, a Veteran, a poet and photographer and the owner of PR firm “SJF Communications.” We talk about how burnout is taking its toll on our healthcare teams, and how she uses poetry, among other tools to cope.

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Crisis Services & People of Color -- We Can Do Better: Interview with Vic Armstrong | Episode 71

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Crisis Services & People of Color -- We Can Do Better: Interview with Vic Armstrong | Episode 71

Centuries of discrimination and brutality have led to historical trauma impacting generations of people of color in the United States. Add to this significant current trauma of racially fueled violence the fact that communities of color experience disparities in access to qualified care, and it’s not surprising that we are seeing increased despair among BIPOC people. We are also seeing incredible resilience — at the individual and communal levels — and creativity as people of color find ways to cope. In this interview, Vic Armstrong and I talk about many hot topics:

  • Complex trauma in Black communities

  • Systematic racism and the treatment gaps in services

  • The trends in Black suicide rates

  • The shifting role of the Black church in suicide prevention

  • Distrust, crisis services and communities of color

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Leading Others to Resilience -- 3 Ways to Accelerate Organizational Recovery During Crisis: Interview with Bob VandePol | Episode 59

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Leading Others to Resilience -- 3 Ways to Accelerate Organizational Recovery During Crisis: Interview with Bob VandePol | Episode 59

In this interview I speak with crisis response expert Bob VandePol on crisis leadership. We explore the questions of how do leaders embody resilience during trauma? How can leaders sustain a group commitment to a mission greater than the individual? How can leaders cultivate trust and social support when things feel out of control? How do we develop a resilience plan that transitions people to grow through crisis?