Rest as an Ethical Imperative: Evidence-Based Burnout Prevention and Restorative Yoga Practice

Join us for an unusual social gathering that can benefit you in many ways. Leave feeling refreshed and calm.

This special two-hour experience for UPA Members only combines 1 hour of continuing education with an additional hour of restorative self-care.

Overview

Hour One: Rest as an Ethical Imperative (1 CE Hour)

Burnout among psychologists is common and lasting. In APA’s practitioner surveys, roughly a third or more report feeling burned out, and early-career psychologists report the highest rates. The usual answer is “self-care,” which puts the problem on the individual. This workshop instead treats clinician well-being as a matter of professional ethics and shared responsibility. The first hour is didactic: it looks at burnout through Maslach and Leiter’s six areas of worklife and links clinician well-being to the APA Ethics Code (Principle A; Standard 2.06). It then reviews the evidence for individual strategies, including self-compassion, mindfulness, recovery experiences, and values-based action and is candid about where that evidence is strong and where it is limited.

The second hour is a restorative yoga session. Forget the misconception that yoga is only for those in peak physical shape: This practice will be trauma-informed, open to all bodies and experience levels, and requires no prior yoga experience. Through breathwork, mindful presence, and nervous system regulation, this will be an experiential opportunity to implement some of what was discussed in the previous hour.

Objectives

1. Identify at least three systemic contributors to psychologist burnout using Maslach & Leiter’s six areas of worklife, and explain why clinician well-being is an ethics issue (APA Principle A; Standard 2.06).
2. Summarize the evidence, including its limits, for individual strategies: self-compassion, mindfulness, recovery experiences and values-based action.
3. Apply at least two brief, evidence-informed regulation practices (e.g., self-compassion break, paced breathing, supported rest) and identify ways to adapt them for use between sessions and outside of work.

Hour Two: Restorative Yoga (Non-CE)

One hour of restorative yoga

Easy, gentle, and open to all ages and abilities. No prior yoga experience is necessary.

Presenter

Dr. Jess Farrar

Jess Farrar, PhD, RYT-200 is a licensed psychologist, yoga teacher, and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Utah. She practices at the Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, where she provides psychological evaluation and therapy services to patients with complex health conditions (e.g., amputation, spinal cord injury, stroke, TBI, chronic illness) to address presenting concerns including adjustment to disability, trauma, mood disorders, and pain management. Her clinical work is grounded in acceptance-based and compassion-focused approaches. As PM&R wellness co-chair, steering committee member for Widening Impact in Health, Medicine, and Science (WiHMS), and adaptive yoga instructor for the TRAILS program, Dr. Farrar is committed to building a culture in which both patients and professionals can thrive.

Registration Fee:

UPA Members only: $25 (1 CE hour)