Feeling triggered by clients or work
When caring for others becomes too much
Working in health care or mental health can ask a great deal of you. You may be used to listening deeply, being present with distress and holding space for the pain and suffering of others.
Over time, this work can become too much. You may find that the stories, emotions or trauma you witness begin to affect you in ways that feel difficult to manage. Feelings of anxiety and overwhelm may arise during your work or stay with you after you leave.
Perhaps you no longer want to go to work. You may feel that you cannot take any more, even though you once cared deeply about the role you have chosen.
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When your own feelings begin to arise
Being triggered by clients, patients, colleagues or the work itself does not mean that you are not good at your job. It may mean that something in what you are witnessing is touching your own pain, grief or experiences that have not yet been fully understood.
You may feel tired, angry or sad much of the time. You may be irritable with others or notice that small things feel much harder than they once did. The needs around you may feel overwhelming, and it can become difficult to stay connected to yourself while continuing to care for everyone else.
Sometimes we try to keep going by pushing our feelings away. Yet the body and nervous system can continue to respond to what we are carrying. You may feel constantly tired but unable to rest, anxious before work, or find that you have little patience left for the people close to you.
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When work follows you home
The effects of this work do not always stay at work. You may withdraw from relationships, feel emotionally distant, or become angry and frustrated at home. You may question why you feel this way, particularly when you know you are someone who cares deeply about others.
For some people, there is shame in admitting that caring has become too much. You may worry that you should be able to cope, or that there is something wrong with you for feeling so affected. But being impacted by the pain and suffering of others is something that deserves to be understood with compassion and curiosity.
Having spent more than 40 years working in health care as a nurse, I understand the realities of caring for others and the impact this work can have over time. I know how difficult it can be when your own pain and hurt begin to arise with nowhere to take them.
A different way to support yourself
My counselling and psychotherapy practice offers a space to understand what is happening for you now: in your work, your body, your relationships and your sense of yourself. We do not need to force you into painful memories or expect you to explain everything before you are ready.
Body-based Breathwork may support you to notice the feelings, sensations and nervous-system responses that can be difficult to access through talking alone. It offers a gentle way to make space for what you have been carrying, with curiosity and compassion, and to begin to integrate this understanding into your everyday life.
To learn more about this approach, visit my Breathwork page.