Hello and welcome to the Surviving Nonprofit Burnout Podcast. The podcast for anyone who feels exhausted, overwhelmed, and stressed. Anyone who has experienced burnout, believes they are headed toward burnout, or you want to support someone who has experienced burnout. 

If you feel like you are trying to keep all of the plates spinning and they are about to fall and break, this podcast is for you. 

In this introductory episode I’m going to share with you:

• Who I am
• My work in the nonprofit sector
• And why you should listen to the Surviving Nonprofit podcast

My first job after graduating college with a degree in social work was working for Child Protective Services in the state of Texas. I was 23 years old and should not have been given the responsibility and authority to tell parents they were not fit to care for their children. That job was stressful, but at the time I didn’t know what burnout was so I didn’t make the connection that the stress ulcers that were causing me to throw up every morning, could have been a result of burnout. After leaving CPS, I worked for a homeless shelter, a psychiatric emergency room and three county jails. It is at each of those jobs that I saw children aging out of foster care exiting the foster care system and entering jail and homelessness. 

After witnessing this and feeling a deep passion to do something about it, I started Zoie’s Place, a nonprofit that provided housing and other support services to young women aging out of foster care. Soon after I founded a nonprofit organization, having no prior nonprofit work experience, and just the passion in my heart to do something. I realized I wasn’t qualified to have the job I had, and if I wasn’t the one who founded the organization, no one probably would have hired me for that job. So, I went back to school to get my master’s degree in Public Affairs. I thought having the book smarts and the degree in government and nonprofit management/leadership would make me feel better equipped to run the organization but going back to school didn’t have an impact on how much I would pour myself out sacrificing my own well-being for the well-being of others. 

I absolutely LOVED my job. I LOVED getting to support these beautiful young women, who just needed someone to give them a chance to succeed and thrive in life. I loved every move-in day, every difficult conversation, I loved every single one of my girls. But, because I loved my job so much, I didn’t have healthy boundaries. And eventually, my lack of boundaries, paired with the demanding nature of being an Executive Director of a nonprofit, caused me to burn out. 

This nonprofit I loved, and worked tirelessly for for 5 years, was now the source of bitterness, sadness, and depravity of my physical and emotional health. Looking back now after a season of recovery and healing from burnout, I realize it was not the nonprofit itself that caused my burnout, but a combination of my own personal work style, and the demands of the nonprofit sector.  

I know there are so many other people who have a similar story to mine who have experienced burnout while working in nonprofit, ministry or another capacity where part of your job is to care for others. 

I created this podcast because when I was trying to figure out what I was feeling and how to get through it, I could not find resources that were helpful to me. I want you to feel supported, encouraged and have a place to come to hear the stories of others who feel what you feel, or have felt what you felt and have come out on the other side of burnout.

I hope you’ll grab your coffee and join me as I drink my lavender latte and swap burnout stories, share resources and encourage you to have hope that you too can get through this. 

#burnout #nonprofitburnout #burnoutcoach