Q&A: Women require self-care, rest to cope with burnout, promote health equity

Key takeaways:

• Kimberly Gordon-Achebe, MD, DFAPA, says that women play a crucial role in fixing health inequities for future generations, but they need support.
• Self-care is key to accomplishment, she said.

CHICAGO — Self-care and rest are essential for preventing burnout and promoting wellness and allow medical professionals to practice at their best, according to a speaker at Women in Medicine Summit.

“We are the future, and we have a right and responsibility to take care of ourselves to be able to help future generations,” Kimberly Gordon-Achebe, MD, DFAPA, adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist and CEO and founder of Black Health Equity Training and Consulting to Communities (BHETC LLC), told Healio.

Gordon-Achebe is a passionate advocate for social justice and works as a mindset coach to help empower Black and Native American women and women from historically underrepresented groups. Her Burnout to Breakthrough coaching program is designed to help women rewrite the narrative around work-life balance and redefine success in their lives.

Gordon-Achebe, who also serves as an adjunct professor at Tulane University, spoke at the Women in Medicine Summit about her experiences with The Women's Wellbeing through Equity and Leadership (WEL) program, a 15-month initiative focused on advancing wellness, equity and leadership for women in medicine, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Healio spoke with Gordon-Achebe to find out more about her impressions of the WEL program, her experiences with burnout and her advice for fellow physicians experiencing burnout.

Healio: Could you discuss some of the key takeaways from your presentation?

Gordon-Achebe: First and foremost, I want to thank the WEL program, because the invite for me to participate in this conference came from them.

The WEL program is crucial for women in medicine and physicians looking to build not only wellness but equity and leadership in their life domains. WEL covers a wide range of leadership topics over the course of 15 months that are essential for personal and professional growth.

Healio: We see that on you posted on LinkedIn about how the WEL program helped shaped your career and classes you offer. Can you talk about what some of what you learned from attending the program?

Gordon-Achebe: The aim of the program was to engage us with our own wellness. We explored the trauma that comes from being women and working for health equity without equitable support. They taught us how to take care of ourselves, set limits, create boundaries and evaluate our core missions and values.

One key lesson for me was that our goals for both our career and personal lives need to be integrated. Work-life integration is necessary, and wellness is a big part of that, which is what I teach with the Burnout to Breakthrough coaching program.

We also delved into what equity looks like and how to foster it within our environments by engaging, promoting and fostering inclusive environments with networks, resources, mentorships and stakeholders. I realized I could be a coach myself and help these women recognize their true value while encouraging them to prioritize self-care. We are the future, and we have a right and responsibility to take care of ourselves to be able to help future generations.

The program provided an inclusive environment where we could have crucial conversations about leadership, especially from the perspective of women of color. This was particularly valuable for me, as many of my previous supervisors didn't necessarily understand my struggles as a Black woman in medicine.

The WEL program also helped me define my path as a psychiatrist and the communities I wanted to serve. I gained insight into how social issues and unmet needs often lead to mental and physical health problems beyond what traditional patient medication management can address. As physicians, while we can't fix all these problems, we can equip people with the resources they need to navigate these challenges.

Healio: In that post, you also talked about how you went on a journey from burnout to breakthrough. Can you talk about that journey? What caused your burnout, and how did you overcome it?

Gordon-Achebe: When I attended the WEL program, I was at a crossroads in my career. During that time, I began to appreciate the opportunity for me to serve communities of color differently. As a psychiatrist, I believe in addressing the social determinants of mental health and promoting health equity.

The health disparities among women of color are more drastic than many realize. I visited the homes of women of color in underserved communities and recognized that basic needs and necessities were often unavailable. These parents are raising our future generations and future leaders, yet they lack fundamental support.

My burnout stemmed from this realization. I was exhausted emotionally and physically. Moral injury affected me —the distress that comes from recognizing how the health care system often fails those who need it most. We’re not adequately equipped to address the social issues that are contributing to high incidence of depression, anxiety, burnout, suicide and homicide.

I participated in the WEL program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic and the social unrest following the death of George Floyd further highlighted these disparities. Women of color, who had the least equity, lost even more ground.

Many women of color, particularly Black women, are highly educated and serve as the primary breadwinners in their family. Yet they lack support for child care and adequate maternity leave, and they face barriers that prevent promotion to leadership positions.

I realized that my burnout was rooted in trying to fix societal problems that can’t be solved without policy reform. I believe women most impacted by this pain can develop solutions but may suffer from a lack of emotional resilience, which I define as hardworking women cultivating and leveraging environments where they feel supported, valued and seen. Women can’t address the needs of future generations when they’re growing up feeling unseen because their communities lack essential resources.

I believe that women are the solution to this problem due to our empathy and compassion, but we're burning out. Many of us are walking away from their professions and some of us are committing suicide. My mission has become helping women of color, especially Black women, redefine success because they are successful for showing up every day in the face of these challenges.

These women need support to build emotional capacity and they need rest. This doesn't mean not working; it means working more effectively by prioritizing self-care. Self-care comes first; you can't accomplish anything without that.

Healio: What advice would you give to other women in health care who are currently experiencing burnout?

Gordon-Achebe: It’s OK to not be OK. It’s crucial to take breaks and cultivate rest in your life, even if it means shifting your priorities and temporarily stepping back from fully supporting your community. Once you take care of yourself, you’ll have the capacity to delegate more appropriately and serve more effectively.

I think women in general take on more than any person should and then feel guilty about it. Instead, we need to learn to say, "I can't do this alone, so I'm going to have to delegate to someone who may be better positioned to handle it." And that's OK too. We've created this culture of constant work, but rest and self-care should be daily practices, not occasional luxuries.

Healio: Why is the Summit so important for female clinicians in any specialty?

Gordon-Achebe: While this conference is geared toward women in medicine, I hope many men attend as well. Women physicians bring unique perspectives and skills that can help transform the health care system and address critical social determinants of health, including food insecurity and child care.

It's crucial that attendees recognize that all the professionals at this meeting have faced significant challenges, regardless of their background, to be in a position to speak with authority on these issues. This conference is phenomenal because it's bringing together real change-makers who are catalysts for transformation in their communities.

The participation of men and allies is vital because addressing these systemic issues requires diverse perspectives and collective effort. By working together, we can create more equitable and effective healthcare systems for all.

Healio: What are you excited to experience or learn at the Summit?

Gordon-Achebe: I’m impressed by the energy they’re putting into sharing the vision of the Summit. The extensive use of social media to share videos and content in preparation for the meeting is exciting. I don’t think I ever attended a conference that has done such a comprehensive job of marketing what they’re doing and why with such sophistication. I'm really looking forward to the collaborative and innovative atmosphere this conference is creating.

Healio: Do you have any additional advice for other women entering or established in medicine?

Gordon-Achebe: As the first person in my family to become a doctor, I understand the unique challenges faced by people of color and first-generation professionals in medicine. If you’re in this position, you’ll likely face a different set of challenges compared with someone with built-in mentorship and exposure to the field.

Seek out mentorship in any form from any type of leader. It doesn't have to be a physician; it could be a pastor, a counselor or anyone who will teach you leadership skills. These skills provide resilience when facing difficulties.

There’s significant assimilation trauma in medicine. People who grow with different worldviews often find themselves at odds with the prevailing medical culture when they enter college and medical school. It’s crucial to remember that your worldview isn’t wrong — it’s valuable.

The key is to incorporate new ideas and values while maintaining your own sense of self and core values. This can be particularly challenging if you're the only person of color or woman on that team.

Be proud of yourself and your accomplishments and don’t hesitate to seek support from the community that got you this far. At the same time, be open to finding new mentors and leaders in your current environment. Never give up on yourself because you've already proven your capability by making it this far.

References:

• Kelly EH, et al. Pediatrics. 2021;doi:10.1542/peds.2021-051440I.
• Richmond LM. Psychiatr. News. 2022;doi:10.1176/appi.pn.2023.01.12.3
• Burnout to Breakthrough. https://www.drkimanswers.com/coaching. Accessed Sept. 9, 2024.

For more information:

Kimberly Gordon-Achebe, MD, DFAPA, can be reached at drkimgordon@bhetcgroup.com; https://www.drkimanswers.com/contact; LinkedIn: Kimberly Gordon-Achebe, MD, DFAPA.