August is National Wellness Month, a time dedicated to promoting healthy habits and prioritizing wellbeing. For many professionals, that means finding better work-life balance or making time for self-care. But for telecommunicators clocking in to high stress environments on a daily basis, wellness can be more complicated.
Every day, 9-1-1 telecommunicators are asked to remain calm while helping others through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. They hear fear, panic, grief, and trauma, providing critical support and shouldering an emotional burden that it’s often hard to leave behind at the end of the workday.
It's incredibly meaningful work. But as Jenn Patrick, Ph.D., Intrado’s Director of Learning and Enablement points out in her new book, The Caregiver's Paradox, “the qualities that make somebody such an extraordinary caregiver can actually become the things that harm them."
Many people think burnout is the result of not being resilient enough. However, during our conversation with Jenn, we learned that she sees it differently.
In her experience, burnout rarely happens because someone doesn't care enough. More often, it happens because people care deeply and spend so much time supporting others that they neglect their own wellbeing.
That's especially relevant in public safety, where helping others is often more than a job. It's a mission. Telecommunicators frequently develop a strong sense of responsibility toward the people they serve. The challenge is learning the difference between caring about a caller and carrying that caller's crisis long after the shift ends.
Burnout doesn't always look the way people expect. Rather than obvious exhaustion, it can appear as irritability, emotional numbness, cynicism, impatience, or feeling detached from work that once felt meaningful.
Jenn also highlighted several warning signs telecommunicators should pay attention to, including:
Everything starts irritating you.
Despite the way we think about someone hitting a breaking point or see burnout depicted in the media, it doesn’t always look like someone dramatically breaking down. As Jenn explains, “sometimes it just looks like slowly checking out."
So what can you do to prevent burnout if you’ve identified some of the common warning signs?
While there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, Jenn shared several habits that can help telecommunicators maintain compassion without sacrificing themselves in the process:
One particularly practical exercise she recommends is asking two simple questions at the end of a difficult shift: What was mine? What was not mine?
The goal isn't to stop caring. It's to recognize that caring and carrying are not the same thing.
Even if you’re able to identify the signs of burnout and start implementing some mindful practices in your day-to-day life to prevent it, sometimes there is no better salve than simply hearing from someone that understands where you’re coming from.
When we asked Jenn what every telecommunicator should hear today, her response was immediate:
To put it simply, she explains, "You cannot be everyone's lifeline if you're drowning yourself."
Telecommunicators are often the first point of contact during a crisis. They provide reassurance, gather information, and help connect people with life-saving resources. That work matters.
But as Jenn reminded us throughout our conversation, caring for others shouldn't require sacrificing yourself in the process. "You should not have to disappear in order to help someone else survive,” she explains.
This National Wellness Month, perhaps the most important reminder is also the simplest: Rest isn't something you earn. It's something you require.
Want to dive deeper? The Caregiver's Paradox explores why so many helping professionals experience burnout and offers practical tools to help you care for others without losing yourself in the process. Grab your copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble!
Supporting telecommunicator wellness isn't only about self-care. It also requires organizations to examine the systems, processes, and workloads that contribute to chronic stress. Tools like VIPER Answer, which helps handle routine, non-emergency interactions, can help. Learn more here, or fill out the form to connect with a VIPER Answer expert.