We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Swathi Weaver a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Swathi, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
As a mental health professional, burnout is something that we learn about beginning in our training while still in school. It is first introduced as something to accept that will happen to most of us in the classroom at some point during our career. I think there was a statistic that was introduced to us that counselors stop being counselors within 7 years of licensure. This statistic has stuck with me over the last 11 years since I first heard it! I did not want to fall under this statistic. As we moved on in our training, I had to recognize that burnout happened before I even entered my profession as a licensed counselor; being in a Master’s program was challenging enough! I have to pause and acknowledge that I had a lot of privledge that has helped me avoid burnout. While I was in school, I lived with my parents and my tuition was paid for. This of course helped with having more time for self-care and setting boundaries. After a grueling Master’s program, I entered the workforce and kept burnout in mind as I practiced in high volume clinics and hospital settings. When I started to feel burnt out I think it was important for me to remember why I started this work in the first place. Reminding myself of my “why” was crucial, over and over again. Sometimes the burnout got so bad that I left that job and sought another position in a similar setting. I think the key here was to recognize that I was getting burnt out and moved positions before I let it affect my work with clients. It is also really important to consult with colleagues and clinical supervisors so that you don’t feel so alone in burn out and it can be normalized by asking for help. This is key to overcoming and even avoiding burnout. It is okay to say “I’m not doing okay, I love what I do for work, I find joy in it, but lately, it’s been harder and harder.” I think if we as a community were more open about talking about burnout, it can be normalized and hustle culture can be buried!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Gosh, sometimes I think my identity is such a mix of so many different things! “What do you do” is such a hard question to answer. Currently, I’m a PhD candidate in a Counselor Educaton and Supervision program. So, “what I do” right now is mostly being a student writing my dissertation and being a graduate research assistant as well. But, I am also a Licensed Professional Counselor and a board approved Supervisor, so I oversee a handful of Associates for clinical supervision as well. I find a lot of joy and fulfillment in this. I want to go back to practicing counseling eventually, but for right now, I’m focused on being a student and a clinical supervisor. Recently, in one of my classes, we were asked to come up with an advocacy project, and I decided to start a podcast that helped bring even more awareness to mental health stigma in South Asian populations as well as body image issues. This podcast is called Dosas and Mimosas: Spicy Inquires with Swathi, and I interview various South Asian folkx and get their viewpoints. This has been a fun hobby and I’ve gotten some really great feedback on how it has helped a lot of people that listen! That makes me feel so good!! I am always open to new guests coming on to record with me, especially if they have a passion for mental health stigma in South Asian communities, or have experience body stigma or are living with disordered eating. I want to get different perspectives on this issue that I think is so important.
Right now I’m focused on finishing my dissertation- I’m in the early stages, where you just write…a lot. I’m hoping to study any connections between Indian-American women and eating disorder risk. It is fascinating to me to learn more about how minority populations are affected by eating disorders, but very little research exists in linking my culture to eating disorders in the United States.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
When I think of some things that were most impactful to me on my journey, I come back to an acronym created by Brene Brown, BRAVING. This acronym was first used by Dr. Brown to indicate the 7 components of trust, and building trust in another person. It stands for: Boundaries (Setting boundaries is making clear what’s okay and what’s not okay, and why), reliability (You do what you say you’ll do.), accountability(You own your mistakes, apologize, and make amends.), vault (You don’t share information or experiences that are not yours to share. ), integrity (Choosing courage over comfort; choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and practicing your values, not just professing them.), non-judgment (I can ask for what I need, and you can ask for what you need. We can talk about how we feel without judgment.), and generosity (extending the most generous interpretation to the intentions, words, and actions of others).
These 7 principles, and their definitions taken from Dr. Brown’s website, are a really good guide to being a good person, in my opinion. If you can try to live with these values, you are on a good path to being a good, kind person.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I would love to connect with other South Asian women who are looking to have their voice heard! Women that are specifically interested in speaking about mental health stigma, body image issues, or disordered eating are folks I’m looking to collaborate with!
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swathiweaver/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QMQrhcZhc39kTaivMcSWr?si=48b3c6f0aa224dbd
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