Support for the people who do the hardest jobs, while quietly wondering how much longer they can hold on…
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Humanitarian work has a cost – sometimes a very high cost
It should never have surprised anyone that those working in relief and development are significantly more likely to experience burnout and other stress-related illnesses than the general population.
Humanitarian professionals do some of the most stressful jobs in the world – often in difficult conditions, frequently without adequate support or resources. Somehow, though, it took a good 50 years or so for the industry to figure out that far too many dedicated, talented people were being used up by this work.
More recently the sector has been cut to the bone, thousands of roles have vanished, and those who still have jobs are doing far more work than the far-too-much you were already doing.
Burnout
Overwhelm
Compassion fatigue
Depression
Anxiety
– these aren’t surprising impacts of humanitarian work today.
They are completely logical ones. But that sure doesn’t make them healthy or safe to have to contend with. And it doesn’t make getting through them any less frustrating – painful – disillusioning – frightening – EXHAUSTING.
Whether you are dealing with one or more of these issues, trying to avoid them, or simply looking to change or improve something your life, you deserve to make changes and achieve your goals without unnecessary, additional stress – you’ve likely got more than enough of that!
Relief, Development, Nonprofit, NGO, Aid Sector Professionals
You might be a program manager, a country director, a protection officer, a monitoring and evaluation lead, a grants manager, a fundraiser, a field coordinator, a safeguarding adviser.
You may have spent years with a humanitarian agency, a faith-based organization, a UN body, a small charity that punched far above its weight – or a combination of all of these.
In coaching humanitarian professionals as they build lives that work more effectively FOR THEM, I’ve learned that what you have in common with my other clients isn’t a job title.
It’s that you care enormously, give a great deal, and are now trying to work out what to do with what’s left.
If any of this sounds familiar –
- You’re proud of what you do. You’re also running on empty.
- You are living with one (or more) of many work-related illnesses, and you’re trying to figure out what comes next.
- No amount of rest or even leave seems to be making a dent in the constant exhaustion you’re living under.
- You loved the work. You loved the people. You even loved the organization. Then your role disappeared in a cloud of budget cuts.
- Somewhere between the last emergency and the next grant deadline, something in you went quiet. (Or very, very loud.)
- You got promoted into leadership with zero mentoring on how to lead.
- You’re tired of contracts, grant cycles, and short term … everything…
but you don’t even have the energy to figure out a next step, just know you don’t have to navigate it alone.
What Humanitarian Coaching with me looks like:
| We start where you are.
Not with a personality assessment or a five-year plan, but with honest conversation about what’s actually happening and what you actually want. And those may be two very different conversations. Many of my clients arrive already exhausted from trying to answer that question alone. |
We separate the exhaustion from the decision.
Exhaustion is a terrible place from which to make critical life choices. Burnout makes things even harder. Much of the early work we’ll do is getting you enough space and wellness to choose well, rather than choosing something simply to because fear or fatigue are clogging up your overwhelmed brain. |
We build the next thing deliberately.
That might be making changes in your work. It might be making changes in you, including building healthier boundaries or prioritizing differently than you have before. And sometimes humanitarian coaching isn’t focused on your work at all. What matters outcomes that suit your real needs and goals. |
A note on scope: this is coaching, not therapy, and it is not a substitute for mental health treatment. If there are areas where you need clinical support, I’ll mention it plainly and I’m happy to help you find it.
Why a coach who’s worked in Relief and Development?
You won’t have to explain what a donor report is, or why you can’t simply “leave work at work.”
Or what it does to you to be evacuated from a place you’d come to love.
I spent 10 years in strategy work in the then-largest iNGO in the world. I’ve spent another 10 consulting with iNGOs, NGOs, UN agencies, and local, national and international non-profits and health organizations.
I’ve been in the meetings. I’ve been told that my entire team would be made redundant in 90 days. And I’ve watched the same happen to dear friends who had given everything to their work.
I know what this work asks of you. And that it doesn’t always give back.
In addition to my coaching training and a masters degree in public health, I also hold certifications in crisis response and mental health first aid – not because all humanitarians coaching clients are in crisis, but because the people who do this work sometimes arrive carrying heavy burdens. And you should be in safe hands when you do.
How to Start
| Book a free 30-minute conversation.
No preparation needed, and no pressure either way. You don’t need a polished story about why you’re reaching out. Come as you are. Seriously. |
We talk about what’s going on
… and whether I’m the right person to help with it. If I’m not, I’ll tell you that. And I’ll try to point you to someone who is a good fit, rather than try to sell you a program that isn’t going to suit your needs. |
If we’re a good fit, we develop an approach that works in your real life.
… that fits your actual life, energy, and schedule, not a one-size-fits all template. You may want weekly sessions. Or something looser may work best while things are still unsettled. |
You’ve spent a long time being the person who holds things together for everyone else. Here’s a place to put that down for a moment and figure out, without judgment, what actually comes next.