Neurodivergent Burnout and Playfulness

A suggested “pay what you can” course – probably Monday evenings for the first run of them?

Formerly called Autistic Burnout (but now ADHDers too), Neurodivergent (ND) Burnout differs from “standard” burnout in it’s causes and suggested treatments. This course of sessions attempts to find out if we can help boost recovery from ND Burnout, or to some extent inoculate against it for people who feel that they are nearing it. It will not be suitable for people who are in the depths of a current period of burnout.

ND Burnout is largely caused by the stresses of trying to fit into neurotypical environments and culture, resulting in massive fatigue, a reduced tolerance of sensory inputs, and skills regression. It can take a significant amount of time to recover from, and the loss of skills can sometimes be permanent. After each bout of ND burnout, and as we get older, it can be slower and more difficult to recover from.

Advice on burnout often focusses on rest and time away from work to refill depleted energy levels. For ND burnout, we need to address longer term issues around areas such as increased support, reducing masking, and focussing on our strengths rather than what neurotypicals might expect of us.

After hearing Rachel Haley Himmelheber talk at Counterplay recently about using play and playfulness to try to reduce burnout in nurses, I wondered if something similar might be worth trying in the neurodivergent community.

This first iteration will be:

• A series of 5 evening sessions (to avoid the workday), 1 a fortnight, lasting under an hour each
• Each session to be largely sharing experiences between participants and introducing the play challenges for the following fortnight (with the 1^st session focussing on what ND burnout is and setting expectations)
• Each session we will set 2 or 3 gentle play challenges for participants – they can choose between these, or pick one of their own
• Throughout the length of the course we will ask participants to keep a short journal about their play, including elements of play that were in addition to the play challenges
• We will ask everyone to do a very short playfulness test and a very short burnout test at the start and end of the course so they can compare their results.
• Numbers will be strictly limited to allow everyone a chance to share for 2 or 3 minutes in each session.
• We welcome people who are nearing ND burnout, or are partway through recovery from it, not those who are in the depths of a current period and who will need more direct support.
• The course of sessions will be “pay what you can”.

The play challenges will be gentle, optional, and we’ll try to align them with practices that are claimed to support recovery from ND burnout.

We ask that participants try to make themselves available for all the sessions as the reflection, sharing, and feeling part of a community are important to how we suspect any playful interventions may work.

Participants will be asked if they are willing to share their pre & post test results and their reflections on the process so that we can refine any future course and maybe publish the anonymised results.