Dear Shepherd Heart,
There’s so much talk about “burnout” these days… but what is burnout, really? What are some signs of clergy burnout, and what would it look like, or feel like, if I were experiencing burnout within my calling as a pastor? What are some things that people can do to feel replenished?
Sincerely,
Drained
Dear Drained,
First of all, let me say that I get why it’s confusing. For all the talk, social media buzz, and real, lived experience of “burn-out,” would you believe that burn-out has never actually been a diagnostic category in the current version of the DSM? (The DSM is the diagnostic manual used by therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists). However, burn-out has gotten some clarity and recognition in recent years as an “occupational phenomenon” (not a medical diagnosis) by the World Health Organization, and it was also included in the ICD-11 as a condition “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” (See ICD and WHO’s description here). Even there, though, that understanding of burn-out is still restricted to its relation to the workplace, which may be somewhat narrow, for many.
After his recovery from clergy burn-out, pastor Matthew Yoder wrote an article for Shepherd Heart, where he eloquently described his experience of clergy burn-out like this:
“I was able to hold onto my …pastorate for three-and-a-half years before succumbing to a malaise that would not lift; a malaise that would make it impossible for me to do my work. After reaching burn-out point, I was unable to transition out of that ministry for three more years. My small rural congregation, for whom life itself was a constant battle, was rightly furious with me for sponging off of their hard-won resources and I was powerless to do anything about it. I’d never been so trapped at the utter end of myself for so long, and the absolute necessity of self-care had never been more evident…I pushed myself as hard as ever to the point where I no longer found any amount of worst-case-scenario thinking or emotional self-mutilation the least bit motivating. I quite simply ran out of give-a-damn.”
—Matthew Yoder. “Caring: A Journey Home” in Shepherd Heart, Feb. 1, 2019
When you boil it down, there are three hallmarks of clergy “burn-out” that soul care providers look for. These include decreased productivity or efficiency; exhaustion, or utter depletion of emotional or physical energy; and a tendency to keep a mental distance from work, perhaps in the form of cynicism, or de-personalization of others in otherwise caring people. It can wreak havoc in the lives of clergy, their families, and the congregations that they serve.
Since 2020, Shepherd Heart has given regular clergy trainings on Recognizing & Resilience in Compassion Fatigue to various denominations at their gatherings. In it, Shepherd Heart gives pastors practical and faith-based techniques to honor one’s boundaries in ministry, and how-to’s on coping to regulate sympathetic and parasympathetic physiological states in a manner that is both bottom-up (bodily/somatic), top-down (psycho/spiritual) and side-to-side (relational).
But your personal remedy for burn-out will be as unique as you are. I imagine it will be a process of re-engaging long-neglected aspects of self (perhaps through creativity, rest, play, and companionship such that we invite on the Fall Retreat), and re-enchantment with aspects of your spirituality that perhaps have felt lost. Want to know what this might look like, personalized for you? We can meet to figure that out together.
Blessings to you, “Drained”
ask./seek./knock.
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