When your day starts with caregiving and ends with paperwork, burnout isn’t a risk—it’s a reality. Burnout within the caregiving and education sector is at an all time high, with 44% of K-12 teachers reporting “always” feeling burned out. The same is true for professional caregivers, who are tasked with supporting our most vulnerable, and challenging, populations. This matters for a variety of reasons – staff turnover, staff shortage, the potential impact on our students and clients – but most importantly, the impact on our own mental and physical health.
Understanding Burnout in Caregivers and Educators
There’s an emotional, physical and mental toll that comes with providing care to others due to the high needs of those we support. Workplace specific factors, in combination with managing high client needs, often increase feelings of burnout such as:
- Experiencing a lack of agency in your schedule, work assignments, caseload or how you actually carry out your responsibilities.
- Role confusion or being unsure of what your job entails (this is especially true in work settings that utilize multidisciplinary teams).
- Toxic work environments that offer little support or where staff conflict isn’t resolved appropriately.
Signs of burnout providers and educators should be mindful of include:
- Feeling as though you need to prove yourself to the point of engaging in perfectionism.
- Working harder than you need to, trying to do things by yourself, not asking for help.
- Neglecting your own needs. This often shows up as not taking accrued vacation time, going to work when you’re not feeling well, canceling medical appointments for yourself because you don’t want to reschedule a client, arriving early or staying late at work, or bringing work home.
How Social Workers Can Provide Support
Social workers can provide emotional support to caregivers and educators by encouraging open discussion on the impact of burnout. Being intentional in these conversations normalizes this topic for providers who may be concerned about appearing “weak”, creating opportunities to reframe negative thought patterns around burnout and break the stigma associated with this experience.
Working with a social worker trained in reflective supervision can also help. When I worked in a preschool setting, I held regularly scheduled check-ins with staff. At times, holding space for their experience within the classroom was enough. Other times, we reflected on the challenges faced in the classroom and how, in combination with their own personal history and ability to tolerate troublesome thoughts and feelings, they were being impacted. By creating a safe space for these conversations, staff could speak openly about how they were doing and together, identified supportive strategies.
Practical Strategies to Prevent Burnout
There are several practical and effective strategies that aim to prevent or manage the impact of burnout:
- Physical Activity : Moving our bodies, even for short amounts of time, keeps Adrenaline and Cortisol levels from adding up, keeping our stress at a healthy level.
- Stay Connected Outside of Work: Spending time with friends and family outside of work reminds us we are more than just a provider, but a real person with real needs. It’s also important for us to be in relationships in which there is a reciprocal give and receive since work requires us to give so much of ourselves.
- Mindfulness and Relaxation: Meditation, grounding activities, deep breathing are all tools meant to reconnect us with our bodies while staying in the present moment instead of becoming overwhelmed and anxious by thinking of the larger picture.
- Listen to Basic Needs: Using the bathroom when we need to, getting a drink when thirsty, eating when hungry are often pushed aside because we’re busy or don’t have an opportunity to take a break. Honoring those needs will also help create a sense of control, even in an environment where staff have little control.
- Advocate for Better Systems: Support doesn’t end with self-care. Advocate for flexible scheduling, protected breaks, and smarter documentation tools.
Casebook is one such tool. By streamlining administrative work like case notes, contact logs, and reporting, Casebook frees up valuable time in your day—giving you more room to rest, reflect, and recharge.
Want to see how it works? Book a demo today.
