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Employee burnout is a universal issue not only external to Pacifica but within our community. It highlights our responsibility as an institution to share our insights on the topic. January is Mental Wellness Month, and Dr. Leonie H. Mattison, President & CEO of Pacifica; Dr. Dylan Hoffman, Co-Chair of our Jungian Psychology and Archetypal Studies Program; and Dr. Juliet Rohde-Brown, Chair of the Integrative Therapy and Healing Practices Program, gathered to discuss this issue, which can have such a fundamental effect on mental wellness.聽 聽

Dr. Lee: Employee burnout is a profound and important topic not only external to Pacifica but within our community. It highlights our responsibility as an institution to share our insights on the topic. We have been working on several key priorities over the last 14 months and I鈥檝e been observing the archetypal energies at play in our professional lives. I鈥檝e been considering which strategies, grounded in depth psychology, we鈥檝e used in the past, are using today, or should explore as we move beyond Covid19 and the environment we鈥檙e sharing to address burnout. I believe there is an urgent call to action. We need strategies grounded in depth psychology to create a more soulful workforce.

Dr. Hoffman: It鈥檚 a complex issue in itself because it involves things that are outside the control of Pacifica, like family support in the individual鈥檚 life. But within Pacifica, it鈥檚 implicit in our priorities. Burnout can stem from confusion over roles and responsibilities, from people not feeling rewarded for the work they鈥檙e doing, and it can come through feeling like you鈥檙e not able to fulfill the role that you have signed up for, because you鈥檙e being pulled in different directions. Part of what we鈥檙e doing is touching those different levels of what it means to feel like to inhabit a place of congruence with the vision of the institution; you鈥檙e inhabiting the task and feeling reward for it. When those align, burnout is less likely. It’s when one of those things goes awry that we begin to question if our time is well spent here. We鈥檙e doing that work right now.

Dr. Lee: Yes, it鈥檚 a work in progress. But what excites me about the archetypal forces is to share them with people. Some of the burnout I鈥檝e observed is that we鈥檙e carrying all of it alone, going to the hero archetype. The hero wants attention, is advocating. We鈥檙e not leaning on each other in a soul way. I felt challenged by the topic, which means it鈥檚 a message from the soul. What is the opportunity? It鈥檚 time for all of us to engage in this conversation as a community and learn the language of working together, soul-to-soul. I feel we need a common language.

Dr. Rohde-Brown: It鈥檚 important to always consider that we鈥檙e multifaceted human beings who are all working together in a community that feels strongly about the bigger picture of this life on Earth. So I think we can benefit from owning the healer archetype, but what can get in the way of that are the shadow aspects of the healer and other archetypes: the savior, the power archetype. And others can project those onto other people or there can be an egoic identification with archetypal energy. How do we tune into ourselves and recognize we are not the projection, and all the while holding the healer archetype in its compassion, strength, and beauty? There are practices we can do. Active imagination with the dreams we have. The relational aspect is so important, getting to know each other as human beings rather than the projections we might put on each other. Coming together in a genuine, authentic way is so powerful. We have some real strengths here. Staff, students, and faculty come here for something unique. How do we recognize our growing edges while standing in that strength?

Dr. Hoffman: It might be valuable to think in terms of the flow of energy, like in a river system of tributaries and larger currents, and ask if the energy we鈥檙e carrying is flowing. I often think burnout is about energy being blocked rather than over-used. Frustration kicks in when energy is blocked. If I feel my energy is being diverted and diffused in ways that don鈥檛 feel meaningful, I lose the rationale for why I鈥檓 here, because I don鈥檛 feel like my energy is going in a meaningful direction. And the different parts of Pacifica need to flow into the whole. When things aren鈥檛 blocked up, I receive as much as I鈥檓 giving, and there鈥檚 less disruption in the river system. When each tributary (i.e., administration, faculty, staff, students) gets disconnected from the larger flow, then we ask what we鈥檙e doing and don鈥檛 feel in service to the deeper current of soul that we are here to serve. That鈥檚 when frustration, anger, and conflict come up. So, energy flow is my deepest language around this.

Read more in Part II of this interview.