Episode 64: Bethany Burrell (Speech Pathologist): Rural Speech Therapy: Hidden Challenges, Real Impact

What happens when you're the only speech pathologist for hundreds of kilometers? Meet Bethany Burrell, founder of Speak To Bee, who travels across 200 kilometers of rural Victoria supporting children and adults with complex communication needs. Her journey reveals the hidden struggle of families in remote communities facing five-year waiting lists, three-hour drives to specialists, and profound isolation.

Bethany shares how her own neurodivergence became her superpower, creating therapy sessions that look nothing like traditional table-work. "If they want to be under the table with a blanket over the top, that's completely fine. If we're walking on the beach having fun, that's fine too," she explains. This flexible approach helps her connect with clients who might otherwise struggle in conventional settings.

The boundaries between professional and personal blur dramatically in small towns where your GP might also treat your clients, and grocery shopping becomes a therapy reunion. Yet these close connections create rich, meaningful relationships that sustain both therapist and client through challenges. Bethany's candid discussion about burnout—the warning signs, the recovery process, and the boundaries necessary for survival—offers valuable wisdom for any helping professional.

For speech pathologists considering rural practice, Bethany paints an enticing picture of professional growth, personal development, and the incomparable reward of helping someone order their first hot drink or say "I love you, mum" for the first time. Her story reminds us that sometimes the most significant impact happens far from the spotlight, where dedicated professionals quietly transform lives one conversation at a time.

Ready to explore how you might make a difference in underserved communities? This episode will challenge your assumptions about rural practice and might just inspire your next career move.

speaktobee.com

danabaltutis.com,  mytherapyhouse.com.au, https://mytherapyhouse.com.au/your-childs-therapy-journey/ https://www.danabaltutis.com/services

Transcript

Introduction to Bethany Burrell

Speaker 1 1:19

Welcome to the Empowered Parent Podcast, Bethany. I am so excited to have you here, and today I want to shine the light on the incredible work being done in rural and remote communities, work that often goes unseen but has a huge impact on families. I'm thrilled to introduce you someone that I deeply admire, Bethany Burrell, a passionate speech pathologist and the founder of Speak2Be, a private practice based in rural Victoria. Bethany is one of those quiet powerhouses in our profession, someone who is deeply committed to her clients and her community and who brings a unique perspective to the field. I've had the privilege of working with Bethany and I'm always in awe of how she approaches her work with such heart, creativity, commitment, loyalty and dedication. So, Bethany, welcome to the podcast and it's so lovely to have you here.

Speaker 2 2:35

Thank you so much. It's lovely to be here. I'm very excited to share my story with you.

Speaker 1 2:41

Great. So let's start, Bethany, by painting a picture for our listeners. For those who may not be familiar with rural Victoria, like me, can you tell us where you work and the communities you support?

Speak2Be: Serving Rural Victoria

Speaker 2 2:57

Yeah, so I currently live in the southwest of Victoria, and if you think of the Great Ocean Road and then drive a little bit closer to the South Australian border, you hit Warrnambool and the Southwest Networking Community, which is quite a big group of people and places along the coast. So I currently work over 200 kilometres of area. I travel from my home, which is about 40 minutes from Warrnambool, to Warrnambool three days a week. I also see clients in Terang and Portland Portland's probably. It's less than an hour to the South Australian border and I also reach into the bottom of the Wimmera in southwest Victoria and service clients in Hamilton. So I sort of have a bit of a circle.

Speaker 2 3:57

That circle sometimes changes depending on the needs of the clients, though and my clients at the moment are mainly NDIS participants. We have a very big lack of providers in the rural region. As anyone listening would know, the rural and remote people are really struggling families and therapists. So I currently see anyone who has an NDIS plan that I feel that I have the skills to help, which my real love and bread and butter is complex communication needs and behaviours of concern. But I also work with anyone who is neurodivergent, anyone with an intellectual disability. We provide services in the home, in the school, in the community, wherever you need it. We make it happen. Basically is my aim.

Speaker 1 4:58

Wow, bethany, you are so inspiring. I can't imagine 200 kilometres, this vast group, and really servicing the most vulnerable of our community. I just think that's really amazing. And your private practice is called Speak to Bee. That's such a great name. Why that name? And what inspired you to become a private practitioner in rural, remote Australia?

Speaker 2 5:32

So the name came about after a lot of time on the couch in the first Victorian lockdown of COVID. Of time on the couch in the first Victorian lockdown of COVID, I've always really resonated with bees, but particularly bumblebees, and for anyone who's from or been to Tasmania, they have these amazing giant fuzzy bees that lived on flowers and I remember them so vividly from my grandparents' garden and I always wanted them and they're something that I can draw and, as my clients would tell you, I can't draw. It's quite scary if I try, but I was doodling and drawing and I really came up with the idea of speak to be, because the idea of my private practice is that no one's excluded, no one should feel any different for who they are and no one should be isolated because of their needs. So speak to be yourself. Speak to be whoever you are. Speak to be able to go to the shops. Speak to be able to be independent and whilst a lot of people actually connect the to being my first name and nickname, it's actually got nothing to do with that. However, it's been good because a lot of my non-speaking or minimally speaking clients will sign B as in the letter or they'll actually. We'll work on the B as a consonant sound and they will eventually, which has been really exciting.

Speaker 2 6:56

This year I've had a couple say B, which has been really nice, because Bethany can be a bit of a handful, so I guess Speak To Me also was born from a place where I've experienced burnout.

Speaker 2 7:11

As you know, dana and I was working in a practice in Warrnambool where we couldn't work with anyone below the age of seven just due to the NDIS side of life and I was really missing the littlies that I worked with in my early years as a speech therapist.

Speaker 2 7:30

So I went out on my own in a random jump just before we went into the second lockdown and my very supportive husband helped me. And here I am, almost five years later, working a lot but loving it and able to run a practice where I can take clients and we are able to order their hot drinks for the first time or help a child or an adult say I love you, mum, for the first time and it's it just. It changes everything for me and I think the reason you need to hear some of those things is because you need to be heard and speak aloud, and if that is speaking is a way that I can make it feel like you're using words when you're not, then I've done my job, I think if that makes sense, you are amazing, bethany, and you would be like such a treasure and an asset to your community.

Speaker 1 8:29

And whenever I think of bees, I think of pollination, so bees going from one flower to another, and I also think of the sweetness of honey and just that gorgeous golden syrup, and that's what I feel that you bring to your community. So that is wonderful. Let's talk a little bit about you. So you describe yourself as neurodivergent. How has that shaped your journey as a speech pathologist and influenced the way you support your clients?

Neurodivergence as a Clinical Strength

Speaker 2 9:03

Yes, I think neurodivergence is something that, like a lot of people, I came to terms with through social media as being someone who quote unquote self-diagnosed until I went and saw the appropriate pathways through. But for me it's really meant that my practice is not about sitting at a table and doing articulation drills or completing worksheets. So sometimes we make craft activities. I've had a client where we've made Christmas bunting and speech therapy doesn't have to look like sitting at a table and getting a high, high dosage of practice in Whilst we do that, I do it in a very different way, so that the child, you know if they want to be under the table with a blanket over the top of it, that's completely fine. If we all got our shoes off and we're walking on the beach having fun, then that's fine too. So I think that for me it's taught me that it doesn't matter what it looks like from the outside, as long as you're seeing the benefit. But it's also taught me that I need to be aware of my sensory needs and preferences as a human working with people with varying sensory needs and preferences and how that also impacts on their families. And it's really helped me see how sometimes parents can feel that burnout and that drain from working with their child all day, because that child's sensory seeking behavior is actually a sensory avoiding behavior of the parent. So it's helped a lot like that.

Speaker 2 10:41

And the other way it sort of helped is, I guess, if I think of it from a DIR floor time point of view, it really is about coming to the person, not them coming to me. So I say to my therapy assistant all the time I don't care if you don't get any work done in terms of here's a sheet, I care about you having a positive interaction and a connection and letting them know that they're safe and then building on their skills in an informal way, because I know for myself that sitting at a table and talking and doing nothing with my hands is not going to work. So why do I expect a five-year-old who has a gliding error process to sit there and recite L words at me for 30 minutes when actually we need to be bouncing around and doing some kinetic sand and have our feet on a box and then jump up and have a movement break? It's really made me aware that when I'm starting to feel dysregulated and in need of a break, that often my clients are and it's okay to have that break.

Speaker 1 11:49

Oh, I love that, I absolutely love that, and so I also want to ask you, bethany, as an owner of a private practice. Being neurodivergent, I think ADHD is your superpower, as they say. What are some of the things that you've got to look out for for yourself in that area?

Speaker 2 12:14

Yeah, so I guess the number one thing that I now recognise has been going on is the fatigue and overwork of a hyperfocus. One thing that I now recognize has been going on is the fatigue and overwork of a hyper focus. I can get really bedded in and locked in on a particular thing, like making this perfect resource, and I won't go to bed. I'll want to finish it straight away and that leaks into my personal life. The other thing I guess is that recognition of I can't do everything as a person with ADHD. I am go, go, go, go go all the time.

Speaker 2 12:49

I'm very much that sort of verbal diarrhea, struggle to sit still person, but I've had to learn to sit back and I've had to learn to bite my tongue.

Speaker 2 13:00

But I do have to say that an ADHD superpower, as I tell all my kids, is that I can listen to two conversations at once because I have two ears.

Speaker 2 13:09

And whilst it's been a journey for me to understand that probably my whole life I've battled with neurodivergence and trying to conform and mask to fit the world, I don't have to and it's okay to embrace who I am.

Speaker 2 13:28

So my ADHD diagnosis is almost two years old, but I can see it now as early as two and three years old, when we look back on my life with my family, two and three years old, when we look back on my life with my family and I see that whilst it gives me this big passion and drive to include everybody and have the energy to do everything, I have to be very aware of that almost autistic burnout and if I overdo it it can take me weeks to come back, which obviously when you work for yourself, you pay your own wage, so I don't have that comfort of knowing that money is still coming in to pay sick leave and it's something that I've had to work really, really hard at.

Speaker 2 14:11

So this year we've we changed our model and we're not really offering therapy at all in school holidays so that myself and my therapy assistant have those two weeks to recharge, with the exception of intensives for appropriate situations and clients, and it's starting. I'm really excited because I get my first two weeks off coming up at the end of this week with the Easter and Term 1 Victorian school holidays and that sort of gives a person, I guess, with neurodivergence, something to look forward to and that's very motivating for all of us to know that our needs are met and we get an end to our achievements and can kind of tick it off.

Rural Healthcare Barriers

Speaker 1 14:55

That's right, and I think also it's really important that you have that break right and you are able to slow down and re-evaluate your boundaries as well, because boundaries are really important for people who are neurodivergent and who want to be everything to everyone, especially in a rural, remote community where, Bethany, I'm sure you are loved and treasured and everybody wants something now. So let's go and talk about the families and clients in the rural and remote area. What are some of the biggest challenges they face when trying to access speech pathology and other services and support themselves and their children? Because I know you work with children and adults.

Speaker 2 15:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2 15:48

So I guess I've been really lucky because I've always mainly lived in a rural or remote community, or at the very least regional, and my first position after university was also in a rural, remote community. So I've seen a lot and I think the biggest thing is that there just are not enough speech pathologists or allied health professionals or actually medical professionals as a whole on the ground. We are far and few between, and our clients often need more than just the traditional quote unquote speech therapy. They need us to provide some service coordination, or they need to know where to go next, or they're grieving because they've been given a diagnosis for their child and then they're just pushed out of the room because there's 25 other patients that need to be seen in their pediatric clinic that day. So I think the biggest one is a lack of providers and very lengthy wait lists. So if I had my wait list open, we're probably looking in excess of four to five years to get an appointment. Wow, five years to get an appointment Wow. Just because of the clientele I work with and the work I do, most of my clients have been with me for three to five years and so spots rarely open up. So, to be very honest, my wait list doesn't usually open and I usually only take clients on after a very lengthy discussion with referrers and families to make sure that they know what I can and can't provide. But the community health setting if we think from a public health perspective, there's just not enough funding. We need Medicare to step up to help these private practitioners like myself and us to be able to provide more services to those who cannot get in at the public clinic, our clinics. I don't have a current wait time, but the last time I spoke to a family it was over two years for a child with severe speech sound disorder. Like we can't do that unless we can attract people out here. So all of the new grads listening or anyone wanting a scene change, please do. It's the most amazing and fulfilling thing, even though you're not necessarily making progress from a speech but their speech therapy or speech pathology goal and it's not smart you're actually helping that family be seen and heard.

Speaker 2 18:27

The other barriers down here are sort of we have a very limited pool of pediatricians, so I have families who travel across the border to Adelaide. I have families who travel to Melbourne, geelong, ballarat, bendigo, so we're talking in excess of two to three hours in the car to see a pediatrician. We have no local ear, nose and throat specialist and the closest local ENT is private, with the public being in Geelong. So our families are waiting four or five years for Category 2 ENT concerns. Unless a family has the means to pay, the family don't get the service, wow. And so it's really, really hard.

Speaker 2 19:20

And I think one of the reasons I chose to go out on my own is because I can choose how to run my practice and choose how to help these families. And if that's, you know, giving a free consult over the phone to a parent who's concerned and trying to work out, is it worth putting myself on a two-year wait list and living in the what-ifs, then that's what I do and that's why I choose to work for myself in that setting. And I guess the other thing for these families that all of them experience, whether the client is 2, 4, 6, 8, 20, 40, 50 years of age, is they're so isolated.

Speaker 2 20:03

Finding another family or person going through what they're going through is so hard. They spend their spare time as caregivers looking after their person and then, when they have their little break, you know they're trying to chase down a specialist, or they're trying to get into allied health services, or they're organising for a delivery from Melbourne that they've missed to be re-delivered because they can't leave the house. So we have a real lack of services and particularly in the south-west, it's tricky. We have families who tap into online services to wait out the wait lists and those services. Whilst they are incredible and I admire anyone who can provide telehealth services sometimes it's not quite enough because we need that on the ground knowledge of which school can help with that or which therapist might have some availability. If that's sort of yeah understood.

Speaker 1 21:04

And what about do families get? Do they have like online support groups or anything, or is that?

Speaker 2 21:11

yeah, look, there's one on Facebook that is used quite readily, um in the Warrnambool region, and sometimes it's a what do I do, who do I go to? Sort of page. Other times it's people sharing resources that they found. We do have a carers support group, but most of those two family that access that have young children. So there is a really big gap in our region for the teenage adolescents and early adults who are really struggling from a family and caregiver point of view, as well as from their own social connectedness. That doesn't really exist. They're on their own and whilst we're, I could say that I find it easy to make friends.

Professional Boundaries in Small Communities

Speaker 2 22:00

I think we would all say that it's an incredibly difficult thing to do to put yourself out there, and these families are expending so much energy as it is that the thought of having to then reach out or make a new group or go to a thing where they have to meet 25 new people who've all known each other for 15 years is really scary. And one little thing that I think is really important to know when you work in these rural and remote communities is you're not considered a local until you've lived here for 20 or 30 years or you're actually born here. I know families in the Warrnambool region who've been here in excess of 100 years and entering into that world is really scary as an outsider. And it's not because they're not kind or welcoming, it's just because they know how it's been and they know everybody and everyone knows everyone and all of a sudden this new person shows up. So I think we face challenges and families face challenges, and sometimes families have to give in and move because they can't access what they need or they are just finding it too hard and sometimes they don't.

Speaker 2 23:19

I have some incredible families who pack their kids up and move to Melbourne for three weeks at a time for intensive programs and you know that's hard on them in another way. So whilst we are isolated, we try to connect and I do my best to connect my parents to each other and when you can connect a parent with a child who's got a similar skill set or needs base set to another, it is the most heartwarming thing to watch that parent go. Hey, I'm not alone. I think there is someone in this world who can understand what it's like to be me. But yeah, without social media, I don't think any of them would feel that it's too hard to get in. It's difficult. I mean we can access Carer Gateway or any of those sort of carer support services that are free in the community. But you know, it's one thing to ring up and inquire, it's another thing to go entirely when that's a very fearful thing for you or something that's new for you?

Speaker 1 24:59

Definitely definitely so, bethany. With so few services available, I imagine you have to be the jack of all trades. Wear many hats. Has it been difficult being everything to everyone in your community?

Speaker 2 25:17

Yeah, I often joke that I'm not just a speech pathologist, I'm a physio, occupational therapist, psychiatrist, nurse counsel, social worker all of that For me. I thrive in that high paced environment and I think that's all my neurodivergence coming in. It's a place where I feel comfortable. It's a place where I can think logically. But there are definitely days when it's hard, when it's exhausting, when you have to go and fight for a client, for example with the NDIS, and you come back and you haven't won and you have to take off that hat and remember that, hey, I'm Bethany and I'm not speech therapist advocating right now. I'm just me and I'm going to sit down and read my book and not feel guilty.

Speaker 2 26:11

It's really difficult to spread yourself thin sometimes, but thanks to your help and also from some learning, I guess as I approached the end of my first 10 years as a speechy, I have learned that I need to stop and I can't do everything. So we try to tap into as much as we can. We are a close network down here. We all email, there's catch up, that sort of thing, and so we can try and reach out to each other. But it is really hard and I think that often that puts a lot of people off coming to the rural, remote communities.

Speaker 2 26:53

But I would say to you, that's how you can make the biggest difference with your clients, because they learn they can trust you and you're more than just a person they see once a week or once a fortnight. You know, I get messages all the time of my clients doing amazing things in the community, from parents who want to share because just because I've gone that slightly extra step, they feel comfortable and they'll bring you the questions they have and they accept if you say I don't know, they're willing to accept that, but they love it if you can help them find that way through. It's definitely a challenge, but I think for me personally it's something that I've always lived with too, with parents who were in the health field and shift worker and a brother with additional needs and someone who now, with ADHD, knows that I was throwing myself into absolutely anything and everything to keep busy, because it helped my mind stay in order.

Speaker 1 27:57

So is that what the reward is? That you're always busy, busy that you connect really closely, you've got a community around you. Is that the reward, or what other rewards are there? Working rural, remote?

Speaker 2 28:09

I think that's one of the rewards. I think that connectedness and that trust that you develop with your families and clients is incredible. I love walking into houses and being met with Beth. It's been so long since I've seen you and it's been two weeks, but you talk like you've not seen them for a year and they follow your journeys or you follow theirs. It's so amazing to watch and to experience.

Speaker 2 28:34

But I think the other thing is you grow and develop so much as a person. You learn so much about yourself and your family members and people in your life from how it feels to be in a community where you might not have that safety net of a GP on every corner, and I think that it's something that a lot of people are afraid of stepping out here knowing. You know it's three hours to a tertiary hospital or four hours, basically, from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, but you know I can go down to the beach at the end of the day. I can see penguins, seals and dolphins. We can see whales. I drove to work last week and I had an emu, I had wallaby and then I had a whole mob of kangaroos. Like you, don't get to say that that happens every day, um.

Speaker 2 29:30

So I think sometimes it's also stopping and being able to enjoy those little things that you don't do when you're in an office building seeing eight clients a day and worried about KPIs.

Speaker 2 29:44

It's not that we don't have KPIs I obviously have to have KPIs to run a business but being able to work with Ruler and Remote means that I can also work in a way where I can support that family through difficult times and then they support me without knowing it. They know that, they give me the confidence to believe in myself and they really fill my cup. I think the other thing that's awesome, though, and is a really good reward, is when you work rural and remote. Like I've said, you spend a long time with your clients and you get to know them super well, and then you know you get the birthday card and the Christmas card and the just pop round for a cuppa if you need a break, or the openness of these families where you feel so accepted for who you are. And it's not about that exchange of goods and services, it's about you're helping them so they can help you so do you think that?

Speaker 1 30:49

um, like, I guess some of us metro speech pathologists are listening and going oh, they taught us all this stuff about, uh, professional boundaries. Is it different in real, remote? Is it just a different vibe?

Speaker 2 31:02

Yes, it totally is. I will never forget my first placement and they were like you can't talk about anyone, you can't that. This is the. This is the box of. This is how we use our privacy app. And then going to my first job, where my GP I saw his parents as a client. Everyone knows everyone. If they don't know the, if you don't know the person directly, they know someone who knows you.

Speaker 1 31:32

And it is so difficult to manage you know, and you're in the same supermarket, you're down the same street, you're just. You're there all the time, right?

Speaker 2 31:43

Yeah, and you know I used to find that really difficult to turn off and I've now learned that that was because I was experiencing really bad burnout. But there were days where you know, sometimes you might just need to hide from a client if you're not feeling up to it, and you know what I can tell them later and they laugh about it and go. That's okay, but it is. I can see people at the shops, I can see people in the GP. I see people when I go and get a blood test. It's awkward sometimes I'm not going to lie but it's also lovely, because not once have I had a client that I've seen hide from me and they're usually really excited and proud to show you off. So they're like this is my speechy and she's really cool and she's so kind. Or this is my speechy, or this is my brother's speechy and her name's Beth, and that fills your cup so much and her name's Beth and that fills your cup so much.

Speaker 2 32:42

But you definitely have to be very aware of the fact that your GP might be seeing three of your patients as well, so you can't talk about them when you're talking about yourself and then not using emails that you have for work, for your personal needs. So, yeah, um, I'm very strict and I have separate phones. I don't use my laptop for anything except for work. There is very clear boundaries and sometimes I will admit, and my families know there are days that I just have to slide down in that car seat and wait for half an hour until I know that client's left, because sometimes I'm in my trackies with really dirty hair and I don't feel like saying hello, yeah, I understand that.

Speaker 1 33:26

I understand that We'll talk about burnout and self-care in a minute. I just want to go to students, so supporting the next generation of therapists, and you and I. We've spoken about students and students coming to work in rural and remote areas. What would be the benefits of students coming, say, to work with you under you?

Student Opportunities in Rural Practice

Speaker 2 33:52

I think number one it's seeing the variety. I had no idea when I went to my first job the sheer depth and complexity of clients that come across my desk. You know you get your sound speech sound errors, you get your stuttering, you get your language errors. But in a rural, remote community you get the socio-economic dynamic a bit more and you get to see them as a whole, I guess, so you can see more about all the different areas that influence that person's life. And it could be that it hasn't rained in a week and so the crops are dying and it's really stressful. So we haven't done our speech sound errors. If you were in a metro sort of setting, you're never going to understand what that feels like, how that looks the stress those parents feel.

Speaker 2 34:57

I personally I did all. I guess you would call them all metro placements. However, I chose to take one in Tasmania, so most people just call Tasmania regional from the get go, and there is such a difference in, I guess, the amount of trust you have to have with a client as well. It's not as simple as walk in, meet you. I don't like you. I'm going to go down the road to see Steph, that doesn't happen.

Speaker 2 35:31

And the students I think I had some amazing students at my job in Mildura and they've all gone on to be incredible speeches and I absolutely enjoyed working with them. And I encourage any student to take a regional, rural placement because you would have the best time, because it's not just about going to placement and seeing clients or patients. It's about building a community and a connection, and that's something that I think anyone in a remote regional area would say is connection is key, and without it we don't get very far. But they don't have the variability available to them either. So if they don't connect, we help them find someone else to connect to.

Speaker 2 36:20

And I would love to have students, please, if you think that you would love to work in disability and want to come for 10 days, or if you just want to come and do an observation, I'd love to have you to show you, I guess, the depth of what we do.

Speaker 2 36:36

And, yes, my days are long and no, I wouldn't make a student work as long as I work, but that's personal preference. Um, I think that you can learn a lot and we have a skill set that is so dynamic and whilst I say I specialize in complex communication and behaviors, I can still treat a lisp, I still do swallowing assessments I still can be involved with when my clients decide that they are ready and are coming out as trans, that I can help them connect with the right transgender voice clinic. You know I have a bucket that's probably without sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, I guess that's probably a bit deeper and I've got a bit more to tap into. But at the same time, my knowledge on something is nowhere near what it used to be and I tell everybody don't bring me a voice client, and I'm not so good with stuttering anymore either.

Speaker 1 37:37

Yeah, I get that. And I also think for students. Right, I did a well for Adelaide. It was remote. I did a placement in Victoria and I had to go out on my own. I had to live on my own, I had to think about what I'm going to do after my day. So you know, you've got like you say, you've got all these beautiful things around you that people can do and it's such a great personal development journey as well as a professional development journey, right? Yeah?

Speaker 2 38:14

Definitely. I think I caught the boat over to Tasmania and, yes, I stayed with my grandfather, but I still had eight weeks of weekends in one of the most beautiful places in the world in my opinion, where I could jump in the car and drive and explore and clients could give me recommendations of things I needed to go see. And you know, down here, you know, we've got one of the best ice cream marines in Victoria and Australia and some of the best beaches, and you not only do you have to sort of, I guess, be independent and take that big, scary step of being a working person who then has to run their life outside of work hours, which you do as soon as you finish your placements and you've got your degree but you get to have fun and enjoy yourself as well, and I think working with you, bethany, would be, um, oh, it would be a privilege and an honor because you are just so, you're just such an all-rounder.

Recognizing and Managing Burnout

Speaker 1 39:18

So let's go to um, burnout and self-care, and I know that you yourself have learned a lot about burnout firsthand and I guess that comes hand in hand with you know, being idealistic and wanting to help everybody and being in the rural, remote area where you've got to wear many hats and you cover such a vast area. What are some of the early signs of burnout that now, in retrospect, that you saw that you may have had and you didn't listen to? And what could parents and therapists look out for themselves in this area of burnout?

Speaker 2 40:03

Yeah. So, as I mentioned, I've definitely experienced burnout completely. My first job was in community health and I saw zero like the lifespan across the lifespan and had no idea what I was working into sometimes. So I think the first sign is that feeling of dread, that feeling of I don't want to go to work and not being able to shake it. And then, while you're there, you know you get a smattering of light streaming through, but it's still more dark than it is light. That's for me. That's when I'm able to go. Hang on, I need to stop.

Speaker 2 40:43

Some of you might be able to pick it up sooner and, if you can, I'm very jealous of you, but I think that absolute dread. The other thing is fatigue and repeating yourself in appointments, getting your kids to do the same games, because you just can't think outside the box. I mean, we can only play pop-up pirates so many times. It's something that you have to be aware of and, having done nearly 10 years now of practice, it's something I'm still constantly aware of on a daily basis, especially since my diagnosis of ADHD. I now realize that I throw myself into things and ignore those warning signs. So if you're feeling uncomfortable, if you're feeling unsure, if you go to bed on a Saturday and you're going on tomorrow's Sunday and that means I have to go to work on a Monday, that's. They're those signs that you need to stop and go, hang on. I need to look at what's going on in my life and, yes, you might do what I did, which is pack up your whole house and your husband and your dogs and move 700 kilometers, but that's okay. If you do that, it's just an adventure. Um, it's something that I think comes to light, though, when I sit down and go, where do I start? Where do I go from here when I've got two hours and I can't be productive? Well, hang on.

Speaker 2 42:08

Maybe that means I'm overtired and I need to rest to not burn out, and I think a lot of our parents, a lot of my parents in particular, that I see. Um, they experience burnout in a different sense. They make themselves sick with fatigue and actually end up unwell because we can't tap into the right support work or they can't go away for overnight respite. And it's really important that, if you're starting to feel that fatigue in your bones, I guess for want of a better way of saying it that you're able to stop and find someone, anyone, and if that's your speechie, that's completely fine and say I need help.

Speaker 2 42:51

And sometimes you get to a point where you have to yell I need help really, really loud loud, and you have to find that help. Other times it's just I need help by having lunch with my book or walking out of the office and going around the block, and that can be enough to reduce that burnout. But it's something that everyone needs to be aware of and I definitely think that, although I'm not, you know, a a 20, 30, 40 years experience speechy, it's something that I think I will live with forever and be very aware of, because when I'm burnt out, I don't get the best out of my clients because they're not getting the best out of me.

Speaker 1 43:31

So to do some of the strategies that you've taught me and take that step back and put a barrier in place if I need to, that's okay and people will understand yeah, and, and I think, like I notice, um, you know, scrolling through social media aimlessly and just sitting on the couch and watching Netflix for about five hours, and you, you know things like that.

Speaker 1 44:00

Or being too tired just to do usual things that you do for relaxation, like going for a walk or going to get a coffee, or you just want to stay in your pajamas all day. And I think for me because I've experienced burnout as well, and I think it comes with the profession, because we are a helping and caring profession it's really important for us to know that we are human like you said, you're Bethany when you come home and very, very important to put in boundaries. We cannot be everything to everyone, and I just think that everybody's on their own journey. Of course, we support the people that we can, but, like you say, you need to switch off your phone when you get home your work phone and you need to have that time for yourself, because if you don't look after yourself, you're not going to be any good to anybody else, and especially to your family members right, and I think the other big sign for me is I completely withdrew from my family.

Speaker 2 45:03

And one thing for me is like I am dog crazy. My dogs are my children, fur babies all the way, and I just completely withdrew from them. I would snap at them all the time and I get irritated. And, if you know, my dogs are able to use buttons to communicate for the switches, um, and I can just get to the point where they hit that once and I'll just be like, would you leave me alone? And then I go, oh, hang on, maybe I need to have a look at what's going on and see if I'm experiencing some burnout, um so what did you do, Bethany?

Speaker 1 45:38

How have you sort of got some of that energy back? What have you done?

Speaker 2 45:44

Well, initially, the first time I really experienced this, I probably would say I almost ran away. I found a new job. But that new job for me unlocked the passion to where I am now and got me out of a role that, although I loved and valued and to anyone who's listening, who was with me while I was there, I really really did. I just think the palliative care side of speech pathology is not for me.

Speaker 1 46:12

So the first thing is to re-evaluate your life as is and really figure out. What is it that you want to do? What is your purpose in your life?

Speaker 2 46:22

And what else did you do? I had counselling, I accessed lots of mental health supports and that really helped. And then with my business, when I start to experience it now, I turn the phone off, I tell people I'm having a mental health day, right? I also will say, if I'm not having a mental health day and I've got a lot of admin to do, I'll send a message or I'll put a post out that just says or an auto reply that just says I'm doing paperwork today and will not be responding to any emails.

Speaker 1 46:54

And how do clients?

Speaker 2 46:55

react? Do they understand Majority? Do, yeah, and if they don't, they usually don't hang around.

Speaker 1 47:01

If that makes sense, yeah, and they're not your people, right, because your people would want you to be healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, right, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 47:14

So that's probably one. The other thing I think for me is my business. Whilst I have a little room that I lease in Warrnambool, it basically runs from home, so my house is actually split in half and we have a curtain that goes across it. So when it's not work time, it's not seen. That's been really important and keeping the work space of like where I report right or do things out of the home space, is been huge for me. Um, and you know my husband will say, oh, just grab your laptop and do that. I'm like, absolutely not. I'm not grabbing my laptop, I'm not touching it because I know I will check my work, emails or I know you go down the rabbit warren, don't you?

Speaker 1 47:57

Yeah?

Self-Care Strategies and Final Thoughts

Speaker 2 47:58

so I think you need as many degrees of separation as you can put in. I also think the thing that's been really important for me is acknowledging that I don't get paid to drive home from work. So if I'm not being paid to drive home from work, I turn my phone off before I start driving and I send my text message. So we send our own reminders rather than using an automated service, because we found that our clients respond much more openly and are able to communicate things that are going on, especially if they're school-based appointments or someone else is bringing the client, and now I'm able to send those messages and then I just shut the door and I don't look at it till the next morning because it doesn't matter. If I've got a cancellation, I'll do some admin. Um, there's no shortage of work, so I think having some time for yourself is probably super duper important, but also, if you get to that point of burnout, looking back, evaluating and then going hang on, what can I change for next time?

Speaker 1 49:03

and now you're taking holidays, right? Yeah?

Speaker 2 49:06

and holidays. Holidays are my thing. My husband hates them, but, um, I need something to look forward to and I've worked that out as a person as well as a therapist. So, um, I try to make sure that we spend at least two to three nights away every school at the end of every school term, just to turn off and reset, and I'm very proud of myself because the work phone hasn't come with me yet this financial year.

Speaker 2 49:36

But sometimes, you know, um, the emails have to come out, and that's just because of the fact that I'm a person who likes to do what I've said and will follow through. But I, my families, are able to understand and tell me go and have fun, go and relax, have a really good time, do something for yourself, and that is what makes it worth it. And, yeah, great, you've got to have something to look forward to, otherwise, why are we working like, exactly exactly, I know it pays bills and I know it gives us houses and all of that, but if I if that's what I cared about I'd, I'd go and do a job that didn't make me happy.

Speaker 1 50:25

It's your purpose, it's your vocation, bethany Burrell. It's been an amazing and valuable conversation today, and I know so many people listening will appreciate your insights, your honesty, your transparency and the work that you're doing to support these families and the community in rural and remote areas of Victoria, and thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and experience with me today and for anyone wanting to connect with you, bethany, or learn more about your work. I'll leave your contact details in the show notes and if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who might find it helpful. And don't forget to subscribe. And thank you so much, bethany, for being here, because I know you're very, very busy and we did have to squeeze it into your day.

Speaker 2 51:15

No, thank you. And thank you so much for having me and for one helping me as a person and mentoring, but also, too, for showing and shining a light on the fact that there are therapists who love and enjoy being rural, regional, remote and please anyone who wants to come and give it a go, because I almost would be willing to say you probably won't look back.

Speaker 1 51:37

Yeah, great, it's the best. I'm almost wanting to come out. Bethany, You've almost convinced me Well any time, any time.

Speaker 2 51:46

Just remember that we have the Port Ferry Folk Festival makes the south west of Victoria very crazy, and the caravan parks are usually booked over school holidays, when it's warm, but just expect it to rain a lot, but it's beautiful and you know, I think. Thank you for showing a light on the world as it is and things that are missing, but also trying to help everybody to be the best that they can be.

Speaker 1 52:14

Thank you so much, bethany.