Protecting Clinician Capacity During the Holiday Surge
The holiday season, while celebrated, is the most emotionally demanding period for mental health clinicians who manage intensified challenges and crises for clients while balancing their own personal pressures.
Most clinicians don’t need a lecture on burnout, compassion fatigue, or the impact of moral injury ~ they are experiencing this in real time. They feel the toll in their bodies, in their attention, in their sleep, and the energy is carried in the quiet moments between sessions.
Many clinicians are missing the space in their busy lives to integrate the emotional load they are holding and the time needed to process the vicarious traumas they experience as part of the “job.” Space is needed to slow down enough to think, to reconnect with purpose, and to recover the internal capacity that erodes under constant demand. Spare time is hard to find. During the holiday surge, the pressure to sustain performance without collapse can feel unsustainable. And while the culture says “be grateful, be festive,” the nervous system says “hold on.”
This invites the question “How do we as clinicians sustain ourselves while working inside systems that demand more of us, emotionally and physically, than our bodies and minds can handle?”
The Reality of Clinical Labor on the Nervous System
Continuous exposure to suffering, crisis, intensity, decision-making, awareness of best practices, and emotional labor all take a toll, not because clinicians are weak, but because our nervous systems have limits. When those limits are chronically exceeded, our capacity to provide care for others, AND ourselves narrows:
Perspective constricts
Creativity declines
Attunement requires more effort
Emotional range flattens
Recovery takes longer
Clarity disappears
Disconnection becomes more common
All these effects signify burnout, not personal failure, and reflect emotional and physiological responses to sustained care demands without adequate self-care.
And the holidays, with their amplified expectations, disrupted schedules, and heightened client needs, tend to push clinicians to show up for others more than almost any other season.
What Actually Helps
Rather than receiving more advice about self-care or positivity, clinicians need practical methods to restore capacity, support their nervous systems, and reconnect with meaning ~ without increasing their workload. The strategies below can be woven into daily routines with minimal time or emotional energy.
Micro-Recovery Instead of Macro-Rescue
Brief, regular breaks foster sustainable restoration. Spending even 3–5 minutes between sessions outdoors, tuning into the environment, or practicing full diaphragmatic breaths can help reset focus and improve executive functioning.
Reflective Writing for Cognitive Integration
Structured reflective writing has been shown to increase emotional clarity, decrease rumination, and support clinical decision-making. Set a 5-10-minute timer and write continuously in response to a targeted prompt or practice:
What emotions or energies am I holding that do not belong to me?
Where in my body is tension?
What do I need to name that can help me think clearly again?
*No editing, no polishing, just stream-of-consciousness writing!
Somatic Drawing / Body Mapping
Create a simple sketch of how your body feels right now, focusing on sensations of pressure, tension, pain, or numbness. This process externalizes internal states and strengthens awareness of bodily sensations, supporting emotional regulation.
*One continuous line, two minutes, no aesthetic goal!
Micro-Movement Reset
Movement enhances physical self-awareness and can quickly shift focus from thinking to sensing the body.
Shaking hands and feet
Gentle spinal rotation
Extending the arms and pressing firmly into a wall
Exhaling with sound.
*One to three minutes can offer a quick reset and widen capacity before re-entering clinical space.
Music as State-Change Tool
Auditory rhythms have been shown to affect the nervous system. Create three short playlists:
Regulate Up (for collapse)
Regulate Down (for hyperarousal)
Integrate (between sessions)
Listening to selected music during transitions helps intentionally shift your physiological state and prevents lingering stress.
Boundary Rituals That Externalize Completion
Select a small object, such as a rock, shell, or paperweight, and place it on your desk at the start of the day with a quiet internal intention: I will not carry what is not mine." “I will end sessions on time.” “I will return to myself between clients.” “I will leave work with the best parts of me intact.” Place the object back in a bowl or drawer at the end of the day.
*The ritualization externalizes closure and reduces emotional residue.
Five-Image Reflection (End of Week)
Capture (in photos or short notes):
Something that grounded me
Something that challenged me
Something I learned
Something I released
Something I’m becoming
*Meaning-making activities strengthen professional identity and can be a protective factor against burnout.
The Role of Continuing Education in Professional Resourcing
Continuing education, especially when flexible and meaningful, can strengthen clinical resilience and reduce burnout.
The Creativity and Madness® On-Demand Enduring Content Program was designed with these realities in mind. This On-Demand CE/CME program offers accredited, flexible continuing education, enabling clinicians to access meaningful professional development without extra pressure. The aim is to transform required learning into a nourishing experience that restores energy rather than depletes it.
Self-paced learning, extended access through 2026, and content that fosters creativity offer a space to restore clarity and reconnect with identity, both of which protect the nervous system and the work itself.
Acknowledging the heaviness of the season is an act of integrity for clinicians, not an admission of personal weakness or negativity.
Protecting your whole self is part of clinical responsibility for health care providers. You do not have to bear the emotional and physical impact alone. Capacity can be restored and meaning rebuilt. Seeking support is not indulgent~ it is essential. If you wish to connect with others and engage in meaningful conversations, join our private Facebook networking group. We look forward to welcoming you. Click here to join.
by Dr. Amy Vail and Alli Fischenich