Mental health professionals encouraging fatigued health care workers to seek support

Mental health professionals are concerned the people who care for us when we’re sick need care themselves.

"We’ve been seeing this since the beginning, since March of 2020" said Liz Kittleson, a licensed family therapist with Wild Tree Wellness. "We’re asking our healthcare workers to take a lot on. And we’re seeing that in our practice; a lot of burnout and exhaustion, just the fatigue of I don’t know how much longer I could do this?"

Kittleson encourages health care workers to get support that she says can help.

"Seeking support is super important because if we don’t feel well, we’re at risk of experiencing PTSD or burnout or compassion fatigue that might make us even leave the profession completely," Kittleson said. "And with those things happening, we often isolate them. So when we seek support, it’s a way for us to connect, to talk about and even get the support that we need to keep going."

Most hospitals and clinics have support services available to help employees.

Kittleson said there are many other resources in the community, including Wild Tree Wellness, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and Save Organization. The Minnesota Department of Human Services has a list of mental health resources available in every county, and many are free.

You can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting "MN" to 741741.