REFUGEE HEALTH ALLIANCE
RHA Well-being: Your well-being is our priority
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Managing Burnout, Stressful Situations, Moral Injury, and Self Care
All healthcare providers struggle with stress and self-care at times and will continue to struggle as stressors arise. Healthcare providers and volunteers are susceptible to increased exhaustion (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) due to the nature of caring for others in situations that often feel helpless or saddening. Emergency, crisis, and global health workers are even more likely to develop symptoms of burnout, vicarious traumatization, moral injury, and mental health concerns due to the chronic nature of stress in the job. Thus, the struggles you are experiencing are common and expected in this crisis context. We know you are trying hard to help others despite limited and depleted resources.
Research shows taking care of yourself is an essential foundation for being able to continue to help others. Therefore, you deserve self-care for the sake of yourself and the clients we care about. Self-care doesn't have to be time-consuming. Click a link below to see how you can get support, understand work related stress, or try a brief resource designed to take less than 5 minutes to re-energize you. Even if you don’t feel stressed, these links can help you understand how to support a colleague who may seem irritable, tired, or in need of support.
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Individual & Peer Support for You and Others
Individual therapy or counseling can be beneficial to manage stress, discuss concerns, thoughts, and feelings in a confidential setting, and for personal growth. Connecting with peers to share experiences with can also provide relief. By being open with others about your vulnerability and pain, you gain new insight into how all of us and the population we care for can heal (Click links for more research and cultural/religious perspectives on providers being a wounded healer).​ As you take the first steps to connect with someone for help, congratulate yourself on being brave enough to be vulnerable as part of the journey to help others. When others come to you for support, remember to acknowledge/validate their experience and emotions, empathize and reflect back what you hear, be mutually respectful, and actively listen without judgement.
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RHA Provider Support
Dr. Lauren Deimling Johns offers free individual tele-support consultations by appointment. These are confidential. Be sure to reference that you are a RHA volunteer. Contact: info@laurendeimlingjohns.com, +41 78 977 9119. If individuals are in need of immediate care they should ring 911 or the national suicide prevention hotline. 1.800.273.8255. They can also go to https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ to live chat with someone.
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Peer Online Groups, Helplines, & Additional Pro-Bono Therapy Options & Resources
Code Green Campaign is an outstanding mental health resource specifically for providers. It offers a variety of resources for English speaking providers.
For peer support, consider also having a frontline buddy you check in with regularly or send a message to process or share with at the end of your day.
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To hear about provider experiences, you can also listen to webinars by two psychologists on various topics regarding provider support: https://www.crowdcast.io/caringforclinicians
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If you have health insurance, you may have coverage for services and can find a therapist of your own to work with on an ongoing basis. You may also elect to pay out of pocket for these services. A good start to finding someone to talk with is psychologytoday.com. Most therapists now offer in office and/or tele-health options.