When we witness the suffering of others it changes us, our relationships, our organizations, and even our communities.

Roughly ten years into my social work career I found myself feeling a strong desire to pull back. I was exhausted and couldn’t face one more home visit, one more voicemail, one more meeting. I now know I was experiencing secondary trauma and burnout; but at the time all I could think was ‘I don’t want to do this!’ and ‘What kind of person chooses to do this as a job?’ So I left. Well, I left that job. And the job after that one too. I tried firm boundaries. I faithfully exercised and chased work/life balance but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find this elusive self-care that was supposed to protect me. I watched my colleagues leave too. They cited burnout, exhaustion, trauma. I began to wonder -

what are we doing wrong?

Thankfully, I found my way to workforce development and organizational work through a collective care approach. Through this work I have had the honor of working with researchers, teams and leaders who go beyond the notions of self care & employee wellness to address workplace stress & trauma at the organizational level and grow a healthier culture for their employees.