Resources: Burnout and self-care

What is burnout?

When you are caring for a sick child, life can feel like a constant juggle. Hospital stays, appointments, sleepless nights, the weight of worry, the what ifs, and the feeling of responsibility to hold everything together can take a real toll. Feeling worn out, both physically and emotionally, is not uncommon when a child is diagnosed with cancer and completely understandable.

Burnout is that feeling of being emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted. It often takes place when we are going through a stressful or overwhelming experience for sometimes a long period of time or running around looking after other people and not spending enough time looking after ourselves.

Reasons why burnout can happen:

How self-care can support you:

Things that might help:

Self-care is about taking care of your own well-being; physically, mentally, and emotionally. Self-care is not just bubble baths and spa days (although those can help). It is having the self-care capability such as knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage in self-care activities. Some activities could be day-to-day healthy behaviours like nutrition, exercise, and hygiene.

Families caring for a child with cancer can be stretched in so many directions. One question you might have, is “when do I have time in the day to think about self-care?” It might help to try one small thing at a time. You could write down a few things that bring a sense of comfort, connection, or calm.

You may like to include activities you will enjoy or small tasks that will give you a sense of achievement, enjoyment, or connectedness to others, for example.

We know it can be difficult to find time to do any enjoyable activity when your child is unwell. The suggestions are only examples; everyone can have different approaches to self-care.

Self-care doesn’t always need to be active or planned. Some days, it could simply mean pausing, letting something go, or noticing one small thing that feels okay, a quiet moment, a kind interaction, or a deep breath. That can be enough.

What are some self-care strategies you might try? Send your ideas here to the Redkite Chat Forum

We recommend listening to Episode 7: Beyond Parenting: When Caring Becomes a Full-Time exploring the real-life impact on parents who must step away from work to care for their child during treatment. Kids Cancer Conversations, a podcast that sheds light on the hidden side of childhood cancer. This series delves into the non-medical challenges families face and highlights the emotional, financial, and practical impacts that go hand-in-hand with a diagnosis.