The rising prevalence of occupational ill-being (such as burnout, compassion fatigue, maladaptive perfectionism and work-related suicidality) is well established. Training interventions have been shown to promote participant health literacy – the ability to know, understand and apply accurate and timely health information.

Designed especially for purpose-driven workers and leaders from the helping, healing, and Service professions, this 5-day retreat-based intervention (hereinafter “retreat”) promotes health literacy with regards to burnout and other forms of occupational ill-being (i.e. work-life imbalance), with a focus on Service-oriented fields (healthcare, military, education and law). The retreat combines integrative health education on burnout prevention and recovery practices drawn from the fields of yoga therapy and yoga therapeutics with group and partner-based learning activities, “healing circle” community conversations, and real-time co-creation of yoga therapy plans of care (i.e. yoga practices, poses and philosophy). Along the way, participants experience the added values of break-taking form the daily demands of their lives and social support -- feeling “not alone” in their lived experience of burnout and occupational ill-being vs. well-being (Carmack, 2014).

Description

Based on feedback from an initial intervention pilot in 2022, the second retreat was offered in April 2023 to 20 participants representing multiple professional fields at risk for burnout (mental health, public health, integrative health, healthcare and wellness). In order to enhance the participants’ experience of truly breaking away from the day-to-day pressures of their work and lives, the retreat design included (1) a 5-day format; (2) inclusive resort location (3) pre- and post- online courses; and (4) a combination of training workshops, yoga practices and personal time for reflection and self-leadership (i.e. free time). This combination of online and in-person delivery formats aimed to achieve the retreat’s desired learning and behavioral outcomes: (a) personal assessment of work-life, lifestyle and well-being patterns; (b) co-creation of a yoga therapy burnout recovery and prevention plan; (c) experience of community and social support and (d) assimilation of lessons learned into daily lifestyle practices.

Lessons Learned

Expanding on the first retreat’s anecdotal data and lessons learned, the author developed a two-pronged approach to retreat evaluation. Primary feasibility outcomes focused on recruitment, production and delivery of the event, and were measured by the number of participants who chose to enroll in the event; the number of participants engaged with the daily practices and workshop schedule; overall participant comments; social media posts in a participant private group chat; and participant post-event reflections (feedback). Secondary outcomes focused on measuring well-being (WHO-5), professional quality of life (ProQuol), social support, and self-compassion before and one-month after the retreat, in order to measure the short-term impact of the intervention. Data will be collected in April 2023 (baseline) and May 2023 (one-month post retreat) and analyzed in June 2023.

Recommendations

Although not yet available at the time of this submission, findings from data collection and analysis efforts will be shared in this presentation. Limitations of intervention delivery and evaluation will also be shared, as well as recommendations for future implementation of retreat-based training interventions.