According to a recent cross-sectional survey study of more than 20,000 healthcare workers across the United States, nearly half (49%) of respondents were experiencing symptoms of burnout. Reports of stress, anxiety, fear, and depression were high among nursing assistants, medical assistants, and inpatient healthcare workers, as well as among women, Black and Latinx health care workers. This rate was even higher among certain allied health professionals, including speech therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers, with nearly 60% reporting burnout.
As someone who experienced the unrelenting trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic firsthand, these statistics are probably not at all surprising (the only thing that may be surprising is how relatively low the statistics are when you think about how many fellow healthcare workers you know who are experiencing heightened stress, anxiety, and depression).
But there was one finding from the study that may indicate a path towards healing for those suffering from mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion: among respondents, the odds of burnout were 40% lower in healthcare workers who felt valued by their organizations.
When people feel valued, whether by an employer or in a relationship, they are experiencing a positive response arising from the confirmation that they possess certain qualities that others deem worthy or desirable. It’s no surprise that healthcare workers who felt valued in their roles experienced less stress, anxiety, and depression than their peers–they had a stronger mental and spiritual grounding on which to stand.
Self-worth and self-value can also provide the “well” of well-being from which healthcare workers can draw to cope with the mental, emotional, and spiritual demands of their roles. That is why dealing with work-induced stress and trauma, especially in the wake of COVID-19, is essential for healthcare workers who want to heal their hearts, minds, and souls so they can be the best for themselves, their patients, and their families.
The following list of resources can help you take the first step towards healing a troubled mind, which may be the root of many of the physical, emotional, and spiritual turmoils you experience daily as a healthcare professional.
Help for Helpers: Mental Health Resources Specifically for Healthcare Workers
If you find another helpful mental health resource not listed below and would like to have it included for other healthcare workers, please let me know. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I would be grateful to add a resource that has benefited others in their mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery.
One-on-One Life Coaching Can Nurse You Back to Good (Mental) Health
There are many paths to healing your mind, body, and soul. One path that you may not have considered is private life coaching. Awakening to your life’s full emotional and spiritual potential can provide the strength, resiliency, and determination to face the trauma of working in healthcare–and indeed, the trauma of everyday life–without extinguishing the flame burning inside of you.
One-on-one coaching may help liberate you from the misery and anguish you have experienced, or are currently experiencing, as a frontline healthcare worker. Spiritually-grounded life coaches can help provide the spark of insight necessary for change, so you can turn empty feelings and limiting habits into thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes of abundance. Understanding and removing the mental barriers in your path of personal fulfillment is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself, especially if the core of your being has been shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic.
No matter how bad it’s gotten over the last few years, know that you are worth taking care of too.
We understand that at Come Home Life Coaching. We offer a Free Consultation for those wanting to get new tools for their everyday living but are on the fence about how that might look.
In the meantime, we are still banging pots together on our balconies.
We are still in your corner cheering you in your most authentic direction.
The question is, what do you truly want for your own life?
We think whatever it is, you can have, do, or be.
May those whose greater forces than ours hold us softly, until we meet.
