Meet Alistair M. Hawkes

We recently connected with Alistair M. Hawkes and have shared our conversation below.

Alistair M., thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.

I have burned out several times, once when I was just out of college and working for an understaffed residential treatment center, I took a year off from counseling after that experience to get some more training and do something that was easy for me – business administration.

The next time I felt burnt I was working in community mental health at an agency that helps people with intellectual disabilities navigate Child Protective Services, and left after two years because the population I was working with grew so slow it wasn’t my area of expertise. Without recovering from burnout then I took a job as a Prevention Specialist with another community agency and was sent into the schools to teach mental health life skills to children in elementary school, which I absolutely loved but was overwhelmed by the ridiculous requirements of the system. For four years during that job I taught 28-32 half-hour classes a week and saw between 1,200-1,800 kids weekly. I was exhausted by the lesson delivery, the lesson planning, and the sheer numbers of notes that had to be documented so the agency could invoice for payment. The love of teaching did not match the output of the position so I left after four years to go into private practice.

After 6 months of private practice COVID happened and my caseload doubled within a couple of months. I began running on the hamster wheel of providing a lot of therapy services to a lot of people in the general population and when my high school daughter finally reported that she was struggling I WOKE-UP to the fact that I was working too much and had been for too long. I pared down my client load as best I could without leaving acute clients in a lurch and started taking more time for myself and for my own daughter.

How I actually overcame burnout…

A very wise teacher, Liana Mattulich, MD has been sharing a system with me since I was in my 20s. Over those three decades she has been teaching me a system of self-development and self-transformation that was developed over her lifetime of experience. Liana, a medical doctor from Argentina, is also a neuroscientist and a long-time student of wisdom traditions like Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Nagualism, Sufism, and others.

Her proprietary system, called HIKE4evolution is a step-by-step process of learning to learn optimal states of function using simple exercises like grounding, centering, visualization, imagery, story and metaphor, and mindful movement. The process requires engagement for short bursts each day – 7 mins to be exact – to develop the discipline and willpower that changes us from the inside out. When I was taking more time for myself I became very disciplined and purposeful about using the skills which helped me feel better within 6-9 weeks. Now, I continue to engage in a small daily practice using the tools of HIKE4evolution, and I am thriving. I love helping others figure out how to let go of the daily junk that blocks our creativity and personal freedom that comes when they apply these skills in their own personal process of learning self-management.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a clinical psychotherapist and hold a license in the state of Colorado to provide therapy services to individuals and groups. I use my clinical skills and experience to inform the work I do with groups of therapists and other caregivers (nurses, parents, doctors, psychologists, etc) in the community teaching them to manage their energy well, recover from states of depletion (burnout, chronic fatigue, etc.) so they can achieve their optimal state of functioning. I teach an online 12-session course that outlines the HIKE4evolution system and all the practices within the system over a six-week time frame which helps my students transform themselves and overcome their burnout states so they can continue to to their caregiving work with more energy, joy, and personal freedom.

For local people I offer bio/neurofeedback training to individuals who would like to accelerate their learning process by working with the HIKE4evolution proprietary bio/neurofeedback technology. I am really excited to share the system with others because it has helped me not only feel better but to go beyond feeling better into an aware state of continued presence and relaxed attention instead of having my mind race all over the place and my body flooding with emotional energy that is pent up from the daily stressors of life. Many people do not know how to consciously let go, of the past, of the day, of regular garden-variety stress. When we are unable or unsure how to let go, and to fill-up with good energy, then we run around in states of residual stress which builds up like sludge in a gas tank and eventually our figurative motor stops working so well.

A masterclass on Burnout Recovery is TBA in August of this year, followed by the 12-session program in September. Enrollment is open for both and can be accessed on my website. I also have a Vitality Kit available for people who are ready to get going with learning right away which includes the first five basic practices of the HIKE system along with instructions on how to use the practices and what to watch for in terms of results. The brand graphics I am using were created for the program and represent balance, family, community, communication, and peace-some of the values that are taught within the HIKE system which is the method for all my teaching offers.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three useful skills that I’ve learned in my professional and personal journey are: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Movement. When I was 12 years old a biofeedback practitioner taught me about mindfulness and meditation. These concepts have been woven throughout my life, and my college and graduate school experiences at buddhist learning institutions (The California Institute of Integral Studies, and Naropa University) helped me further develop my skill in these areas. I began practicing yoga in my 20s and it’s become a lifelong practice. I then took yoga teacher training as a prerequisite for my masters degree in Somatic Counseling Psychology and during the graduate program I discovered the magic of conscious movement and how it helps us heal on all levels. Advice I can give for people on a healing journey or providers who are helping others heal and grow is to adopt a daily practice of movement, mindfulness and meditation. It takes as little as 3-7 minutes per day to develop and transform yourself into all you can BE.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

My ideal clients are therapists, caregivers and service providers who are either struggling with burnout and states of depletion or who are ready to take their personal development to the next level. If you have a desire to go beyond the usual ideas of what health and wellness means and take an inner journey on the road to your personal evolution then I have a skillset to share that will enable you to easily accomplish this. Simple skills, a step-by-step process, and a conscious community to support and encourage your recovery, healing, and development are just a few of the things you will acquire by working with me. You are invited to join our FB Wellness Community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/192055533924459

Contact Info:

Image Credits

In the fields: Magdalena Images
Hiking in Peru: Emily Nichol
Brand Images, Balance, Family, Communication, Community, Evolution: Tracy Raftl and Chris James

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made