The May/June 2015 edition of Psychotherapy Networker had a great article on preventing burnout, called “Burnout Revisited.” This series of posts will be based on that article. In this post, I will discuss how to care more effectively.
Saying No
Sometimes, we cannot help clients. I know that’s hard to accept, but it’s true. Research shows that clinicians fail to help about 50% of their clients! If we aren’t being helpful, then perhaps we could actually help a different way by letting go. Continuing to try out of guilt or professional pride is a clear recipe for burnout. Perhaps even more so than the classic things we all read about (and I’ve written about): taking on too many clients, not getting enough sleep, poor work/life balance, etc.
In fact, there’s evidence that this can actually make things worse. Not because these activities are inherently bad for you, but rather that they obscure the real cause of burnout: being ineffective. Even worse, when they fail the counselor will blame themselves; see, we gave you tools to reduce burnout, and they didn’t work, so it must be your fault. Clearly proper self-care is never a bad thing, but don’t rely on it to cover up the stress created by ineffective counseling. It won’t and when it doesn’t you will feel even more like a failure.
Caring Effectively
What can we rely on? Caring more effectively. And how do we do that? By placing treatment outcomes above involvement with clients:
Here’s what Paulina Bloch — one of the highly effective therapists identified in the authors’ research — says: “The first thing I think when I meet a new client is When can I stop seeing this person? And I know I can do that if I get results.”
How many of us really do that? I know my first thought is How can I help this person? Or, on days when I’ve had a really good night’s sleep: How can I manage to be the ONE thing that will change their lives forever when everything else they have tried has failed? Results are the side-effect rather than the goal. Of course we want them, but most of us don’t think about measuring them objectively as a means to getting the client out of our office. But supershrinks such as Paula do. Read an article like this to find out more about how to become a “supershrink.”
And how do you know if you are getting results? Through frequent, objective and systematic outcome measurement. Take a minute to google “Scott Miller outcome research”. He has done great work with creating outcome scales you can use with clients. Don’t rely on your “feelings” or “felt sense” for measures of progress, use an instrument such as Scott’s as a more objective measurement. And do it on every visit.
In my next post, I will describe “bunting”. What could counseling burnout have to do with a controversial baseball strategy? Stay tuned.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
