The Build Good Fundraising Podcast #9: Amanda Rocheleau — How to look after your mental health in a time of crisis
Are you having a hard time staying positive and balanced and sane during these crazy times?
The coronavirus pandemic brings a rare combination of a scary health emergency, human isolation and an economic crisis at all once.
And I worry about you.
I am not worried if you're going to survive this crisis, or if your nonprofit will survive the storm. I am worried about what the crisis is doing to you, and the toll it’s taking on you as a leader and parent and friend and spouse and all the other roles you play.
I know a lot of people are relying on you.
Maybe your boss or your board is relying on you to bring in the funds, to produce a lot more work or communications pieces, to call every donor, or to produce a new campaign in a hurry…and so much more.
There's a lot on your shoulders.
And the only way we are going to get through this is by acknowledging how hard it is and taking care of ourselves.
So today on the show I’m talking to Amanda Rocheleau, a registered social worker and certified compassion-fatigue therapist.
Amanda works specifically with people who are in the business of helping others, so she understands how quickly burnout and anxiety and work-life balance issues can creep up and completely derail us.
Amanda is going to walk through 5 things you can do to manage your anxiety, reduce your stress and take better care of your mental health, including:
- How you can manage the stress of juggling so many things at once.
- How you can balance your news intake with things that give you hope.
- How you can be realistic about your own limitations and communicate them to your team and family.
- How you can create healthy habits even when your routine is all out of whack.
Plus, we’ll get into how leaders can best support the mental health of their teams who are working remotely, and how those of us who are talking to donors all day can deal with feeling drained at the end of the day.