Beyond Burnout: Healing Moral Distress in Healthcare - Interview with Minky Van Der Walt

While not all allied health professionals may have experienced burnout, moral distress may be a more common but less-known experience for many. But what is moral distress and how is it different from burnout? In this episode, Jo is joined by therapist Minky van der Walt to explore this question.

In this conversation, Jo and Minky discuss:

• The difference between moral distress, vicarious trauma and burnout
• The impact of safe systems of work on moral distress
• What does it mean to deliver a safe system of work and how you can build that in your practice or workplace,
• The changes Minky has observed in workplaces that weren’t common 5 years ago
• The impact of a debriefing practice and how to create a safe space for it
• The importance of getting out of our heads into our bodies, and
• Minky’s advice to a new graduate to help them stay in the work

About Minky: Minky van der Walt (she/her) is a clinical member of PACFA, the Australian Music Therapy Association and the Music and Imagery Association of Australia. Within PACFA, Minky is an Accredited Mental Health Practitioner and Accredited Supervisor.

Through her work across medical, education and community settings, particularly as a child and family trauma therapist, Minky has become a passionate advocate for the wellbeing of helping professionals. In her private practice, Tempo Therapy & Consulting, Minky supports health professionals offering therapeutic supports, individual and group supervision and professional learning.

With expertise in chronic stress and post-traumatic mental health, Minky offers support based in trauma-specific practice, including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing and Internal Family Systems Therapy approaches, music, creative arts and somatic processes, as well more traditional talk-focused approaches.

Minky is based in the beautiful lutruwita / Tasmania where she loves gardening, being in, on or near the ocean, or out and about with her not-therapy dog, Pablo.

You can connect with Minky via her website tempotherapy.com.au and on Instagram at @Tempo.therapy.

Special thanks to our podcast sponsor, Practice Conquest!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Future Proofing Health Professional Facebook group 

 If you know you need more support, please visit my website at https://jomuirhead.com