This workshop will invite participants to reflect on their professional wellbeing and consider their relationship to burnout. Many of us drawn to the helping professions are driven by a deep sense of purpose which puts us at risk of overwork, overwhelm and burnout. We may have grown up with the belief that we should always put others first, that it’s selfish or self-indulgent to focus on ourselves. Alison’s own experience of burnout led to a re-evaluation of priorities, a serious commitment to self-compassion and a more thoughtful relationship with work. It also changed her direction, she now focuses on supporting fellow practitioners to be well in the work they do. Alison will share the transformative potential of self-compassion for burnout recovery and prevention.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- Participants will understand the role self-compassion can play in preventing, acknowledging and recovering from burnout
- Participants will be invited to reflect on their motivations for practice, and consider their deeper professional needs
- Participants will explore the concept of boundaried generosity (Skovholt & Mathison, 2016) and how to find a balance between caring for self and caring for others
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- Counsellors, therapists and all who work in the helping professions.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- This workshop will deepen participants understanding of the links between burnout and self-compassion, encouraging a mindful and intentional relationship with our therapeutic work.
Course Content
Presenter
Alison is a therapist, trainer and supervisor with 25 years experience of compassion focused practice. She has been privileged to work in prisons, Romanian orphanages, with older adults, military veterans and survivors of complex trauma. She worked for several years as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at University of South Wales. She is the Co-Founder of Re-Live, an award-winning Arts and Health charity, co-creating Life Story Theatre with people affected by trauma and adversity.
Alison’s Churchill Fellowship in 2016 opened the door to a compassionate approach to wellbeing which links the personal, the political and the spiritual. She co-founded a social enterprise, Moral Injury Partnership, offering restorative retreats for frontline professionals impacted by moral injury and burnout. Self-compassion is at the heart of this programme, as a guide for healing and growth.
Alison is committed to enhancing practitioner wellbeing by co-creating restorative, reflective experiences that allow people in the helping professions to be well in the work they do. Therapists, counsellors, nurses, doctors, care workers, police, teachers, prison staff, all who work at the human frontline. The work hurts at times. Support is vital.
