The purpose of this institutional review board approved doctoral research is to create an evidence-based burnout treatment tailored for women in Christian ministry; a group that to the best of the author’s knowledge lacks an evidence-based intervention of this kind. This is an urgent need as burnout levels among helping professionals are at an unprecedented level (Prasad et al., 2021) and ministry workers are known to experience burnout at the same rate as social workers (Adams, 2016). The most significant studies done on burnout in pastoral/church care settings have used male subjects (Johnson, 2021) and there is a need to study burnout in females in Christian ministry. Additionally, this study seeks to provide conceptual clarity on what specific aspects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are most effective at reducing symptoms of burnout, addressing a gap in the literature proposed by Reeve and Tickel in their meta-analysis on burnout interventions (2018). This study will also contribute to the growing body of literature that conceptualizes burnout as a disorder of “hyper-empathy”. The model of burnout as an initial state of hyper-empathy and increased sympathetic nervous system activation leading to a state of reduced empathy, depersonalization and autonomic hyporeactivity is the model of burnout most congruous with current neuroendocrinological research (Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 2021).

What Does The Workshop Look Like?

Each session will be a one-hour online Zoom group meeting where I will teach a specific aspect of ACT with space for personal reflection and application. Between each session there will be exercises to help apply what we’ve learned.

There will be two different groups meeting Wednesdays at 6-7pm and Saturday at 9-10am Pacific time from May 25th through June 25th, and participants are welcome to choose which of the two groups they want to be placed in.

Hello! My name is Lydia Marvin, I am a third year PsyD student at George Fox University who is passionate about integration of Christianity and the science of psychology. I firmly believe that Scripture is our source of ultimate truth and that our Creator has given us curiosity about our physical world to learn about Him and ourselves. I have a quest to understand psychology to foster physical and spiritual healing of the minds of God’s precious people. Outside of academia and clinical work you will find me playing with plants, creating music, or enjoying a good laugh with family or friends.