Episode 019 - The 3 Stages of Conservation Burnout & How to prevent it from happening to you

Projects for Wildlife Podcast

One of my guests after the recording stopped had mentioned how heavy and hard this work can be. In fact over the past 19 years since my bachelor’s degree I’ve heard professors, managers, research colleagues, and friends talk about burnout in one aspect or another. And even if they did not exactly say exactly the word burnout I believe that is what they were all describing. A general description of the health of a person, where emotional, mental, or physical overload take place is what I am considering conservation burnout. Burnout as it relates to people working in conservation is the result of an imbalance of time allowed for relaxation, emotional and mental recovery which is needed to keep going. I think this topic is incredibly important to talk about in the conservation space. With the heaviness of extinction and climate change looming, and highly dedicated people committing their entire life to protect wildlife and our resources there is no wonder that the exhaustion will kick in at some point. The manifestation of burnout can be prevented if you take proper steps to prevent it. I am going to talk about burnout in three stages and a few ways to prevent it and/or overcome Burnout if it happens to you.