Burnout Prevention: The Ethics of Self-Care (2 HR) Syllabus

I. Understanding Burnout in Mental Health Practice

• Define burnout as a state of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual exhaustion
• Recognize how burnout leads to professional impairment and impacts clients, colleagues, and personal relationships
• Identify ethical dimensions of self-care as a professional responsibility
• Recognize clinical signs of burnout: decreased empathy, distraction, dread, physical symptoms, addictive behaviors

II. Causes of Burnout

• Secondary trauma and compassion fatigue
• Administrative and systemic stressors: insurance issues, on-call duties, excessive paperwork
• Impact of COVID-19 and sociopolitical stressors
• Personal struggles such as student debt and imposter syndrome
• Emotional toll of overidentification with the helper role

III. Barriers to Self-Care

• Lack of time for basic needs during the workday
• Financial pressures and overwork
• Difficulty maintaining personal boundaries
• Balancing personal mental health with professional responsibilities
• The “second shift” at home and chronic lack of rest or restoration

IV. Burnout Prevention Strategies

• Practice mindfulness of internal states and external demands
• Maintain balance and realistic expectations in personal and professional spheres
• Attend to physical health and energy cycles
• Strengthen boundaries and streamline administrative burdens
• Create support systems: peer support, supervision, mentorship, spiritual connection
• Use scheduling tools, policies, and time management systems like the Eisenhower Matrix or Pomodoro Technique
• Identify ideal clients, preferred modalities, and work hours to align practice with personal values

V. Designing a Personalized Self-Care Plan

• Reflect on changes needed in both personal and professional life
• Identify practices to start, stop, do more of, and do less of
• Make incremental, time-based plans for implementing self-care strategies
• Prioritize self-compassion and allow space for imperfection in self-improvement
• Reframe “selfishness” as healthy and ethical responsibility to self and clients

VI. Integrating Burnout Prevention into Daily Practice

• Use your calendar as a tool for boundary setting and scheduling self-care
• Establish clear policies on client communication, fees, and session management
• Develop rituals for work–home transition, especially in remote work settings
• Build in regular breaks: daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual resets
• Reflect on family-of-origin influences on boundaries and perfectionism

VII. Resources for Continued Growth

• Recommended books on therapist burnout and self-care
• Research on the causes, implications, and remediation of burnout
• Emphasis on ongoing education, reflection, and supervision for sustainable practice