Long Beach-based therapist Cynthia Perez is using her first-hand experience with the growing problem of burnout in the workplace to create spaces of healing in nature for healthcare workers, social workers, educators and caregivers.
“I feel like I understand them on a different level, that they don’t see that they’re in burnout—or they do but they’re afraid to talk about it because of the stigma of burnout,” Perez said.
When the pandemic arrived, Perez’s “dream job” as a medical social worker working for a large healthcare agency quickly became a nightmare: she and her co-workers were expected to keep their heads down and work as the world around them plunged into chaos.
“I saw nurses crying every day, having panic attacks. I saw nurses having strokes at their computer screen and, really, going to urgent care and then coming back to work after having a stroke at work,” Perez said.
When Perez reached her limit, she asked for time off but was denied. Despite her love for her job, she eventually decided to step away from it to take care of her mental health and start her own therapy practice.
“I create moments where we can come together, and I hold space for us to really audit our feelings of burnout and give ourselves compassion and learn new tools for managing our own expectations and our own schedule for rest,” Perez said.
The World Health Organization defines burnout as a phenomenon that is directly connected to people’s occupations, characterized by three aspects:
- Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
- Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
- Reduced professional efficacy
“I felt rageful often and I was really unmotivated and I lacked empathy and I had apathy,” Perez said of her experience with burnout. “All of these feelings, they’re really dangerous for us as clinicians, as your healthcare provider, because if we don’t check these, if we don’t get rest, then we’re now apathetic clinicians to you, to your grandma.”
According to a study by the American Psychiatric Association, rates of burnout have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, 36% of workers nationwide reported cognitive weariness, 32% reported emotional exhaustion and 44% reported physical fatigue. The same study also found that rates of burnout are especially high among healthcare workers and teachers.
“I noticed that nobody stopped to ask, ‘How is everyone feeling?’ There was no mindfulness. There was no moment of pause. There was no check in. […] It was business as usual. Everything keeps going,” Perez said.
Perez explained that she worked in a department primarily staffed by Black nurses and supervised by a Black doctor, but the civil unrest caused by the murder of George Floyd was never acknowledged by higher-ups.
“I feel absolutely [that] healthcare workers need acknowledgement when something catastrophic is happening,” Perez said. “They need their own self-care. They need not just like free lunch, but they need workshops that are relevant in real-time to teach them how to cope with their own feelings, because they’re watching the news and then they have to go to work, and they’re still reactive. ”
Perez also emphasized the importance of culturally sensitive mental health care for marginalized communities.
“We learned in grad school to be culturally competent, but a lot of times, that can’t be taught in just books,” Perez said. “It has to be a self-awareness. And I really feel like right now, specifically, in this pandemic era, it’s critical for therapists to be culturally competent.”
Perez guides participants in journaling, meditation and walks in nature during her “burnout recovery” workshops.
Being in nature played an important part in her own healing journey and, when it came time to look at office spaces, she was unable to find a space more conducive to her work than the outdoors.
“I realized that it was in nature that I found healing so when I started looking at offices, I was like. ‘Yeah, but either way I want to come outside,’” Perez said. “And that is when I started honoring my intuition of holding [workshops] outside and it has been great. All of my clients love it.”
To keep up with Perez and learn more about her workshops, follow her on Instagram @rooted_in_reflection.
