Episode 75: The Cost of Caring—The Potential Risk of Compassion Fatigue

In episode 75 of Burnout Solutions, Mona explores Viktor Frankl’s quote, “What is to give light must endure burning,” to explain how caring for others can affect us without inevitably leading to burnout. She breaks down the difference between burnout (as defined by Christina Maslach) and compassion fatigue (as described by Charles Figley as burnout plus secondary traumatic stress), and challenges the idea that being emotionally “stoic” at work prevents harm. Mona explains how stress and fear can be learned and spread through teams (tertiary/contagious stress), especially in high-demand environments with limited resources and ongoing exposure to suffering. She shares common physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual signs of compassion fatigue, then offers four practical ways to start recovering: recharge your compassion “battery,” practice presence in small sensory moments, choose empowering language (“I’m choosing to”), and reframe tedious tasks as part of a bigger mission.

00:00 Cost of Caring Intro

00:59 Frankl and Burning

04:00 Compassion Fatigue Today

05:52 Stoicism Myth

07:45 Burnout vs Fatigue

10:38 Secondary Trauma Explained

13:45 Fear Is Contagious

17:36 Workplace Stress Drivers

21:33 Signs and Symptoms

24:55 Recharge Compassion

30:32 Micro Practices and Wrap

To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com

Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

Ep. 74: A Proven Training to Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue- An Interview with Dr Eric Gentry

Mona shares her two-decade healthcare background and how chronic stress, sleeplessness, and emotional exposure led her to feel like she was failing, before realizing it was her nervous system reacting to accumulated painful experiences. She explains that what we call “a stressful life” is often an over-responding, dysregulated nervous system matching present-day challenges to past threats, something she believes has intensified since the pandemic. Mona introduces the Forward Facing Professional Resilience Workshop, which she’s certified to teach, and then talks with its founder, Dr. Eric Gentry, about how the program grew from his own burnout and early compassion fatigue research into a one-day, evidence-supported training with studies showing reduced stress symptoms and improved professional quality of life. They discuss nervous system regulation as mental PPE, restoring the “space” between stimulus and response, and how large-scale implementation improved hospital culture, satisfaction, and error rates.

00:00 Nursing Burnout Story

01:40 When Stress Takes Over

03:32 Your Nervous System Explained

05:26 Introducing Forward Facing

08:03 Tools Like Mental PPE

11:38 Interview Begins Dr Gentry

12:30 Origin of the Program

18:06 Why Burnout Is Rising

21:26 Peace vs Threat Response

23:39 Intentionality and Choice

25:21 Hospital Culture Results

29:51 Why Caregivers Suffer

35:49 Wrap Up and Next Steps

To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com

Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

Ep. 73 Grief in Burnout: Death, Non-Death Loss, and Healthier Ways to Process It

In episode 73 of Burnout Solutions, Mona talks about grief—why it’s been on her mind, how it can show up in everyday life, and why it matters for burnout. She reflects on a recent shooting in Twin Falls, Idaho that left her feeling heavy for days, then widens the lens beyond death to “non-death grief,” like relationship changes, career shifts, a diagnosis, a season ending, or grieving a version of yourself you miss. Mona also explores how grief can hide as over-control, hypervigilance, withdrawal, comparison, and shame, and reminds listeners there’s no “right” way to grieve. She shares a few practical ways to process loss, including naming it, allowing it, creating an emotional protocol, taking care of your body, and inviting connection instead of isolating.

00:00 Welcome and Topic

01:40 Headline Sparks Grief

04:19 Death Grief Basics

06:36 How Culture Shapes Death

11:04 Nursing and Compassion

12:42 Burnout and Letting Go

14:35 Non Death Grief

21:17 Hidden Grief Patterns

25:22 Time and Tolerance

26:46 Healthy Grief Tools

31:39 Final Wrap Up

To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com

Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.