A Psychological Tool to help prevent BURNOUT : WASH your WEB
Scroll down for the short version of the tool below.
To get to know and use WASH your WEB, first listen to this info video where Dr Christian Heim and Dr Caroline Heim give an overview. Read the Easy-to-Understand written guide and you’ll be ready to go. The two very short talk-through videos, for before and after your shift, make it really easy. Thanks for your work, we want to help you keep mentally healthy.
Dr Caroline Heim guides you through the pre- and during-shift part of the WASH your WEB tool to help prevent vicarious trauma. Here, you WASH: WALL off empathy, ANTICIPATE strong emotions, SHELVE strong emotions, and HOLD HOPE.
WASH your WEB: An Easy-to-Understand Guide
WASH your WEB: Rationale and Evidence
Empathy vs Compassion and other Key Concepts
Peer-reviewed Journal Article: Heim, C. (2020) “Preventing vicarious trauma: a private psychological tool for health care workers.” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, 22(2), 6-10.
Dr Caroline Heim guides you through the post-shift part of the WASH your WEB tool. Here's the WEB, where you WALK through your day in your mind, and EXPRESS each shelved emotion while using a BILATERAL stimulation technique.
Short version of the tool for a quick reminder or refresher
Dr Caroline Heim and Dr Christian Heim explore defence mechanisms and the gaping difference between suppression and repression. Suppression is used in the Wash your Web tool coupled with anticipation, another mature defence mechanism. Anticipation builds the shelf, suppression shelves the strong emotions to deal with them later. (Please push repression away.)
Disclaimer: This tool is designed to help people under stress. Anyone on the brink of burnout PTSD, depression, or with unresolved childhood abuse or trauma should not use this tool but seek trusted professional care.
Dr Caroline Heim and Dr Christian Heim explore the subtle differences between empathy and compassion and discuss how they work in the brain. To help prevent burnout on the job, you want compassion backed up by empathy, not empathy working overtime.
If you have found this tool useful, please consider making a donation to support the circulation of the tool to other workers suffering from burnout