The 12 Stages of Burnout
The term 'Burnout' was first used by a German-born psychologist called Freudenberger who specialised in the understanding and treatment of stress, chronic fatigue and substance abuse. He was born in 1926 and died in 1999.
Freudenberger was one of the first to describe the symptoms of exhaustion professionally and perform a comprehensive study of 'burnout'.
He defined burnout to be a 'state of mental and physical exhaustion caused by one's professional life'. Along with colleague Gail North, Freudenberger created a description of the 12 phases of burnout.
I have applied the 12 phases to create a self-assessment tool called the 'Waters Index of Teacher Burnout'. The index enables a teacher experiencing the effects of burnout to identify the extent to which they are affecting their everyday lives. It also has a green, amber and red 'warning' function which indicates the likelihood of moving to the next stage unless action is taken.
Dr Geri Puleo on Burnout
Dr. Geri Puleo is the creator of the Burnout During Organizational Change (B‑DOC) Model. As President/CEO of Change Management Solutions, Inc. she creates elearning solutions to eradicate job burnout in the workplace.
She is a TEDx speaker, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, author, blogger, university professor, and life-long entrepreneur.
The 10 Warning Signs of Burnout (7.36)
Burnout v Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (20.39)
Dr Puleo's TEDX talk has been viewed 344,000 times on Youtube
About Dr Geri Puleo
In 2017, Steve Waters, founder of the Teach Well Alliance,
followed one of Dr Puleo's online courses.
What he learned about Burnout from Dr Puleo has been applied to schools and incorporated into the
Teach Well Alliance's flagship programme, the Teach Well Toolkit
Dr Puleo's company Change Management Solutions, Inc: Pittsburgh, (PA) USA is dedicated to
eradicating the 5 stressors that lead to workplace burnout:
1. Job and career change (including workforce readiness and job losses) ✔️
2. Organisational change ✔️
3. Work-life imbalance ✔️
4. Poor organisational leadership and management ✔️
5. Ineffective human resources ✔️
How many of these organisational stressors do you recognise in your school?
