Director’s Blog – Lisa Charlotte Davis
Gaby Hinsliff’s piece on the “curse of burnout Britain” highlights the frustration of those in caring roles that “involve heavy responsibility” who “can’t afford to stop” & suggests “There’s an easy way never to burn out in jobs like these and it’s to learn not to care that much.”
Whilst The Guardian’s Science Editor, Ian Sample reports that “Patients & staff fare better at hospitals that rank highly on empathy, research suggests, with institutions also benefiting financially by spending less on agency staff, locums & consultants.”
We’ve always been conscious that working with challenging themes such as domestic abuse & sexual consent involves carrying a heavy emotional load for practitioners, particularly where this results in disclosures & where practitioners are also navigating the weight of their own difficult lived experience, which is why our Artistic Director Kate Gorman is so passionate about bringing a care-based practice to our project management at Changing Relations.
But over time, we have observed that – across the various sectors we engage in (domestic abuse, VCSE, culture, education, HE) – the practice of recognising & consciously working to support those whose roles involve carrying an emotional load, is patchy.
We’ve seen some amazing practice.
We’re also conscious of many gaps, of an inconsistency in funders recognising this aspect of the work they are supporting, of culture sector freelancers falling through the cracks & left to manage the load of others once a project has ended, of those at the top of organisations carrying a huge weight of the vulnerability passed up the tree from participant to practitioner to manager & not necessarily having clear pathways to ensure they too are fine.
So we decided to tackle it head on. Over the last month, I have been interviewing people in a range of roles from a range of sectors to understand what it’s like to carry emotional load in the work that you do & what personal coping strategies, frameworks & organisational structures & approaches enable them to keep on keeping on.
What we have gathered will have great value for practitioners navigating vulnerability on the frontline as well as those in management roles & we have planned 2 training sessions to pilot this content:
📆 Wednesday 15th July, 12.30-2.30pm for PRACTITIONERS
📆 Thursday 16th July, 12.30-2.30pm for MANAGERS
Save the dates & keep your eyes peeled for booking links!
With thanks to our illustrator for this project – Lou Brown – and to Durham University for their support of this new development.
