• Charles Sturt academic joins Women’s Agenda panel to help others navigate ‘The Burnout Year’
• Live panel discussion to include tools and techniques to lessen the risk of burnout

Charles Sturt University’s Dr Stacey Jenkins will be a panellist on the Women’s Agenda live webinar on Monday 23 November, discussing the ‘The Burnout Year’, highlighting the impact that 2020 has had on many women and some strategies to navigate these challenging times.

She will be joined on the panel by Ms Georgie Dent, Contributing Editor on Women’s Agenda, Director of The Parenthood and author of ‘Breaking Badly’ and Ms Naby Maryam, a leading entrepreneur and CEO/founder of CoverHero.

Dr Jenkins said, with the spread of COVID-19 still a real issue, the pandemic wears on and many of us are tiring from precautions we are continuing to have to take on.

“Speaking with family, friends, colleagues and students there is a real sense of ’burnout’ or ’safety fatigue’ given anything extra feels burdensome,” Dr Jenkins said.

Dr Jenkins spoke about a close friend that had recently experienced burnout and has since established a business to help others by empowering busy humans with tangible tools.

“These tools are similar to strategies we are advocating at Charles Sturt University, to our staff, students and wider communities. We know in such volatile times we need to help each other with managing stress, enhancing wellbeing and improving overall resilience,” Dr Jenkins said.

“Myself, and other staff, have taken up opportunities to upskill ourselves in mental health awareness.

“We have really tried to support students, taking into account their special circumstances and offering flexibility and kindness where we can with assessment due dates, also ensuring classes are recorded and made accessible.”

Women’s Agenda is an online hub sharing the latest news and views affecting how women live and work.

Monday’s lunchtime live chat will cover the all too familiar experience of thousands of women this year, which has resulted in 2020 being dubbed ‘The Burnout Year’.

Ms Angela Priestly of Women’s Agenda said 2020 is a year like nothing we’ve seen before, and many women are feeling the brunt as a result of several intersecting factors.

“It’s a difficult reality knowing that these impacts will continue for the foreseeable future. It’s little wonder women are feeling overwhelmed and overstrung,” she said.

“So we’re going to talk about it.”