Burnout Solutions- Stress Management Tools For High Achievers and Healthcare Workers

Mona Tippets, RN, Certified Life Coach
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

This podcast is all about understanding why your brain and nervous system get stressed and how to rewire to recover from feeling burned out and overwhelmed. I help healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, veterinarians) as well as teachers, caregivers and parents with burnout. I understand high achievers and how they feel stress- I am an RN and Certified Life Coach and help clinics and hospitals with staff workshops to teach emotional resiliency skills and how to resolve stress and burnout in the workplace and in personal relationships. I also work with clients one on one.

  1. 2d ago

    Ep 75 The Cost of Caring_ Compassion Fatigue.wav

    Episode 75: The Cost of Caring—The Potential Risk of Compassion Fatigue In episode 75 of Burnout Solutions, Mona explores Viktor Frankl’s quote, “What is to give light must endure burning,” to explain how caring for others can affect us without inevitably leading to burnout. She breaks down the difference between burnout (as defined by Christina Maslach) and compassion fatigue (as described by Charles Figley as burnout plus secondary traumatic stress), and challenges the idea that being emotionally “stoic” at work prevents harm. Mona explains how stress and fear can be learned and spread through teams (tertiary/contagious stress), especially in high-demand environments with limited resources and ongoing exposure to suffering. She shares common physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual signs of compassion fatigue, then offers four practical ways to start recovering: recharge your compassion “battery,” practice presence in small sensory moments, choose empowering language (“I’m choosing to”), and reframe tedious tasks as part of a bigger mission. 00:00 Cost of Caring Intro 00:59 Frankl and Burning 04:00 Compassion Fatigue Today 05:52 Stoicism Myth 07:45 Burnout vs Fatigue 10:38 Secondary Trauma Explained 13:45 Fear Is Contagious 17:36 Workplace Stress Drivers 21:33 Signs and Symptoms 24:55 Recharge Compassion 30:32 Micro Practices and Wrap To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  2. Aug 31

    Ep. 74: A Proven Training to Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue- An Interview with Dr Eric Gentry

    Ep. 74: A Proven Training to Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue- An Interview with Dr Eric Gentry Mona shares her two-decade healthcare background and how chronic stress, sleeplessness, and emotional exposure led her to feel like she was failing, before realizing it was her nervous system reacting to accumulated painful experiences. She explains that what we call “a stressful life” is often an over-responding, dysregulated nervous system matching present-day challenges to past threats, something she believes has intensified since the pandemic. Mona introduces the Forward Facing Professional Resilience Workshop, which she’s certified to teach, and then talks with its founder, Dr. Eric Gentry, about how the program grew from his own burnout and early compassion fatigue research into a one-day, evidence-supported training with studies showing reduced stress symptoms and improved professional quality of life. They discuss nervous system regulation as mental PPE, restoring the “space” between stimulus and response, and how large-scale implementation improved hospital culture, satisfaction, and error rates. 00:00 Nursing Burnout Story 01:40 When Stress Takes Over 03:32 Your Nervous System Explained 05:26 Introducing Forward Facing 08:03 Tools Like Mental PPE 11:38 Interview Begins Dr Gentry 12:30 Origin of the Program 18:06 Why Burnout Is Rising 21:26 Peace vs Threat Response 23:39 Intentionality and Choice 25:21 Hospital Culture Results 29:51 Why Caregivers Suffer 35:49 Wrap Up and Next Steps To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  3. Aug 24

    Ep 73: Grief In Burnout

    Ep. 73 Grief in Burnout: Death, Non-Death Loss, and Healthier Ways to Process It In episode 73 of Burnout Solutions, Mona talks about grief—why it’s been on her mind, how it can show up in everyday life, and why it matters for burnout. She reflects on a recent shooting in Twin Falls, Idaho that left her feeling heavy for days, then widens the lens beyond death to “non-death grief,” like relationship changes, career shifts, a diagnosis, a season ending, or grieving a version of yourself you miss. Mona also explores how grief can hide as over-control, hypervigilance, withdrawal, comparison, and shame, and reminds listeners there’s no “right” way to grieve. She shares a few practical ways to process loss, including naming it, allowing it, creating an emotional protocol, taking care of your body, and inviting connection instead of isolating. 00:00 Welcome and Topic 01:40 Headline Sparks Grief 04:19 Death Grief Basics 06:36 How Culture Shapes Death 11:04 Nursing and Compassion 12:42 Burnout and Letting Go 14:35 Non Death Grief 21:17 Hidden Grief Patterns 25:22 Time and Tolerance 26:46 Healthy Grief Tools 31:39 Final Wrap Up To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  4. Aug 17

    Ep 72 How to Start This School Year Without Carrying It All and Staying in Your Lane

    Ep 72 How to Start This School Year Without Carrying It All and Staying in Your Lane Mona kicks off the new school year with reflections from a recent family cruise celebrating her parents’ 50th anniversary, then shifts into a conversation about how we can show up differently—especially as parents, nurses, and teachers—by learning the difference between caring and carrying. She explains how caring comes from a regulated, values-driven place, while carrying often comes from anxiety and survival responses that try to control outcomes. Mona shares examples from parenting and nursing, then walks through seven signals you may be carrying someone else’s load, along with practical ways to return to “overflow” support—pausing to check capacity, naming what’s yours versus theirs, resourcing instead of rescuing, allowing natural consequences, regulating yourself first, and releasing outcome-based scorekeeping. 00:00 Welcome and Life Update 01:11 New School Year Reset 04:05 Caring vs Carrying 06:06 Real World Examples 09:25 Seven Carrying Signals 14:47 Overflow vs Pressure 18:32 Six Practices to Stay in Lane 23:35 Closing and Next Steps To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  5. Aug 10

    Ep 71 Reframing Self-Care as Self-Awareness

    Episode 71: Reframing Self-Care as Self-Awareness In episode 71, Mona reframes self-care as self-awareness—something you can practice in micro moments all day, not just through vacations or “treat yourself” routines. She shares practical ways to check in instead of checking out, ask better questions, build emotional vocabulary, and feel a fuller range of emotions without judging yourself. Mona also talks about learning your nervous system patterns, giving yourself permission to say no, letting people be wrong about you, and taking responsibility for your own peace, joy, and self-compassion. She closes by encouraging listeners to accept and ask for help—including professional support—and invites anyone who wants guidance to book a burnout recovery call through the link in the show notes. 00:00 Self Care Reframed 03:08 Check In Not Out 05:45 Ask Better Questions 07:31 Name Your Emotions 10:39 Permission To Say No 12:26 Nervous System Patterns 14:11 Let Them Be Wrong 16:17 Own Your Peace 17:15 Practice Self Compassion 18:21 Accept And Ask Help 20:08 Closing Recap And Invite To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  6. Aug 3

    Ep 70: Three Ways to Outsmart Your Brain’s “I Don’t Want To”

    Three Ways to Outsmart Your Brain’s “I Don’t Want To” In episode 70 of Burnout Solutions, Mona talks about why “I don’t want to” shows up so often—even with things we planned and genuinely want—using her kids’ flower garden and her 26-mile King’s Peak hike as examples. She explains the brain’s motivational triad (seek pleasure, avoid pain, conserve energy) and how the valuation system favors close, immediate rewards over distant, vague ones—especially under chronic stress and burnout. Mona shares three practical reframes to help you work with your brain instead of against it: make the reward feel closer (including if-then planning), borrow the power of connection by doing hard things with others, and look for “double wins” that feel good now and matter later. She also reminds listeners that sometimes rest is the right choice, and invites them to book a burnout recovery call. 00:00 Welcome Back Summer Wrap 01:50 Why We Say I Dont Want 02:55 Motivational Triad Basics 05:02 Kings Peak Motivation Story 07:45 Valuation System Explained 10:25 Reframe One Make Rewards Near 12:44 Reframe Two Use Connection 16:27 Reframe Three Double Win 17:49 Rest Is A Valid Choice 18:30 Final Recap And Next Steps To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  7. Jul 27

    Ep 69 The Other Side of Fawning: When a Strong Personality Becomes “Pushy”

    The Other Side of Fawning: When a Strong Personality Becomes “Pushy” Mona builds on last week’s episode about fawning (the appeasing survival response) by exploring the “other side of the coin”: the strong, conflict-tolerant person who can unintentionally create an environment where others don’t feel safe to disagree. Using examples from church volunteering, her early marriage, and her nursing career, Mona explains how both fawning and fighting can be nervous system patterns rooted in fear, self-distrust, and a need for safety—just with different strategies. She shares practical ways she’s learning to soften the fighter pattern, including remembering there’s rarely one “right” answer, explicitly inviting disagreement, noticing when someone folds too fast, and watching for countermoves when challenged. She closes with what these patterns cost over time—energy, identity, relationships, and physical health—and offers compassion and hope for change on both sides. 00:00 Fawning Recap 01:50 Meet the Fighter 03:55 Church Volunteer Wakeup Call 07:25 Strong Personalities Explained 09:36 Fear Behind the Fight 14:31 Why Fawners and Fighters Pair 15:43 Where Do You Land 18:15 Four Ways to Soften 26:22 The Hidden Costs 30:18 Compassionate Closing To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  8. Jul 20

    E68: The Fawn Response: When “Being Nice” Is Your Nervous System in Survival Mode

    The Fawn Response: When “Being Nice” Is Your Nervous System in Survival Mode Mona shares a coaching story about a talented choreographer/director who ran a children’s community play and couldn’t stop thinking about a cast-party moment where a parent pressured her into breaking a clear “cast members only” rule. Mona reframes this not as weakness or being a pushover, but as the nervous system choosing the fastest path to safety through the fawn response—appeasing to avoid conflict. She explains how fawning differs from simple people-pleasing, how it often forms through early experiences like emotional unavailability and learning to manage others’ moods, and what it can look like in adulthood (overexplaining, constant apologizing, anxiety around boundaries, resentment). Mona offers questions to spot fawning and emphasizes healing by building tolerance for the discomfort of saying no and holding boundaries. 00:00 Cast Party Conflict 02:59 Reframing as Fawn 04:13 What Is Fawning 07:04 Fawning vs People Pleasing 08:41 How Fawning Forms 12:02 Adult Signs of Fawning 15:32 Relationships and Burnout 17:38 Healthy Empathy vs Fawn 22:47 Why We Keep Fawning 28:25 Breaking the Pattern 29:39 Wrap Up and Next Time To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

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5
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About

This podcast is all about understanding why your brain and nervous system get stressed and how to rewire to recover from feeling burned out and overwhelmed. I help healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, veterinarians) as well as teachers, caregivers and parents with burnout. I understand high achievers and how they feel stress- I am an RN and Certified Life Coach and help clinics and hospitals with staff workshops to teach emotional resiliency skills and how to resolve stress and burnout in the workplace and in personal relationships. I also work with clients one on one.

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