Introduction
Bushfires are a commonly experienced, natural and human-made phenomenon, which are endemic in the Australian landscape. Horton (2000, p. 71), believes that burnout is ‘a complex interplay in a land of complex ecology, whose secrets have been hard to unlock’. Those of us who choose to use the natural environment, whether in a therapeutic or educational context, have a lot to learn from nature. Through the imaginative examination of a naturally occurring process, light can be shed on a similar naturally occurring process in human beings. On a human level, can we afford to ignore the complexity of the issues that surround burnout in our profession? The time is well overdue for us to examine the nature of burnout in our personal lives and professional workplaces.

Case Study: I’ve been to burnout and back!
To admit that I was “burnt out” was like owning up to having contracted some weird communicable or infectious disease. I was mindful that some members of society would view me as being a “leper”, others may see me as being weak, unable to cope, and a sure candidate for a nervous breakdown. This added insult to injury, mainly as many of my close friends would have seen me as a perfectionist, high achiever, and someone who always set for high goals in life. I have since learnt, that this type of personality is prone to be afflicted with burnout.

But back to my story – as an outdoor educator, there was one defining moment which signaled to me that I was on the road to burnout. Intuitively, I knew I would spontaneous combust if I didn’t change my bizarre, frenetic lifestyle but it took this “one moment” (i.e. the death and my beloved grandfather, Pop Duff) for me to re-assess my crazy existence. Now Pop Duff was no ordinary grandfather -- he didn’t sit in an armchair all day, he never dribbled into his tartan dressing gown or lament about all the aches and pains in his geriatric body. In direct contrast, he was a vital and energetic man,
who was your classic textbook case of a healthy 79 year-old. In fact, he had represented NSW Country in both Rugby League and Rugby Union. In addition to his athletic body, he also possessed an inquisitive mind -- doing his daily crossword right up until the morning he died.

Anyway, his sudden and totally unexpected death occurred whilst I was leading a
wilderness expedition in a remote Australian setting. Being “remote” meant simply
that.... we only made contact with the outside world if there was an emergency whilst on the hike. As the expedition had no emergencies, we never had the opportunity to “turn on” the mobile phone – hence, no-one could ring me. At the completion of a six day hike, I learnt that Pop Duff had died, his funeral had already occurred. What hit me like a tonne of bricks was that someone very near and dear had died – and I had not been part of that grieving process.

The defining moment was the realization that I was giving more to my students and
my workplace than I was giving myself. I was shot to pieces – not only from the physical demands of a grueling six day hike, but emotionally, I hit rock bottom. I resented that hike, I resented the six days I’d spent with the participants, and more importantly, I resented having chosen a career which puts you in such a “selfless” position.

In retrospect, I guess my story of burnout tended to follow a “cumulative” process or
pattern. In keeping with the metaphor of a bushfire, my own experience started at a
grass fire, and moved quickly, and unchecked into an intense inferno. In my instance, burnout was fuelled by many factors such as: the break up of a relationship, working full time, completing a PhD and re-negotiating the role of a single mum. My run down immune system somehow managed to survive each academic semester, and then, WHAM – my body would flop into a screaming heap, utterly exhausted and lifeless.

I would frequently experience migraine headaches, regular bouts of the ‘flu. There
were periods where my life seemed like a series of juxtaposed events...operating mindlessly from one day to the next. My battery was flat! In fact, the flattened battery that had been jumped started so many times, that it no longer responded to injections of “short lived” energy (akin to caffeine overdoses and chocolate hits). Sadly I was operating on a triage mentality, and my body couldn’t sustain this indefinitely.

I’ve elected to stay in the same work environment, but I’ve learnt to set boundaries.
Quite often I find myself saying “no” to certain requests that would only exacerbate
my personal stress levels and I have worked on strategies that have promoted my
“self preservation” goals.

Personally, there have been some salient lessons learnt from being to burnout and
back. I do lots of preventative things to ward off burnout – such as running, swimming, eliminating “toxic people” from my life (as I find that they drain too much energy from me), I live in an house/geographical location which nourishes my soul and I have regular massages with periods of time of reflection.

In closing, one of the things that helped me through this period, is the metaphor of
the fire – and a belief in personal regeneration and renewal which is inextricably linked to the fire cycle. I have clung to the belief that the re-growth after a bushfire always appears to be “greener and more vibrant” than before. And I hope, that my life has been enriched as a result of being burnt out – as it has provided an opportunity to redefine myself and prioritise what is most important in my life.

Burnout: setting the scene
As illustrated in Figure 1, (not able to see pic) being involved in adventure herapy/outdoor
education places extraordinary demands on the leader. It is exhausting even reading about the expectations! Sadly, it would be amusing - if it was not so true. To reinforce this message, I have chosen to adopt a tongue-in-check portrayal of the hypothetical, yet realistic, job criteria implicit to the field.

Burnout is a "plague" which afflicts our profession and in fact, it may not be going too far to describe burnout as being endemic to the field of adventure therapy/outdoor education. Further, the high attrition rate in the field is most likely linked to burnout (Birmingham, cited by Edwards and Gray, 1998). Herein, lies a secret which has ramifications in terms of the construction and design of programs.



The image of the burnt dead sheep caught in the wake of the bushfire (see Figure 2 - not visible) symbolizes years of exhaustive work in a field which under pays, under values and over works its staff. The adventure therapist is particularly vulnerable to this
condition (Gass, 1993). The huge physical and emotional demands are compounded by not only the therapeutic component but the additional pressure to attain core competencies. If the adventure therapist/group leader is burnt out, what are the implications of crucial decisions made at this time, both in terms of safety/duty of care and ethical considerations?

In addition, another thought provoking premise arises when we analyse why adventure therapists are drawn to the field. Quite clearly, a paradoxical relationship exists. In the first instance, the outdoor educator is drawn to spend time in nature as a source of renewal and sustenance, which then becomes the source of personal degeneration due to unrealistic work practices. Several other authors have alluded to the incongruency between job expectations and job enactment (Cherness, 1995; Farber, 2000; Maslach & Leiter, 1997).

What is burnout?
The devastation caused by a bushfire in Australia is often extreme: loss of life, property, livestock, wildlife and so on. In its wake, all appears black, dead and lifeless. The images seem to evoke conditions associated with the psychological state of depression - a bleakness, lack of life, that is all pervasive - the "Waste Land" of T.S. Eliot (1963).

Burnout too, is an extreme state and requires an extreme response to remedy the
situation. Many people are forced to leave the profession due to an inability to sustain themselves in their workplaces.

The following are a range of definitions that are commonly used around the psychology of burnout. Shinn (1979) as cited in Pines and Aronson (1988, p. 5) posit that burnout is ‘a process in which a previously committed organisational member disengages from his or her work in response to stress and strain experienced in the job’. Pines and Aronson (1988, p. 9) define burnout as, ‘a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding’. The emotional demands are most often caused by a combination of very high expectations and chronic situational stresses. Burnout is accompanied by an array of symptoms including physical depletion, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, disillusionment, and the development of a negative self-concept and negative attitudes towards work,
people involved in the work, and life itself. Personality is also seen as an etiological factor, for example the driven, obsessive, compulsive, perfectionist type (Abbott-Wade, 1997).

Maslach (1981) cited in Pines and Aronson (1988) developed the Maslach Burnout Inventory from research done in the field. Individuals considered to be burnt out scored highly in the following areas as outlined in Figure 3.



What are the causes of burnout?
In Australia, bushfires occur naturally and as a result of human interference. Natural bushfires can occur as a result of lightning strikes, spot fires, friction of tress and spontaneous combustion however the majority of fires (94%) are caused by people (Webster, 2000). Human interference includes arson, modern fire control techniques such as back burning, hazard reduction and traditional fire stick management techniques
by Aboriginal people that have been used over the last 55,000 – 60,000 years [Flannery,1995 & 2001]). As such, bushfires may be out of control or under human control or a combination of both, where one may accidentally lead to the other. In Australia there are many cases of control burns which became raging bushfires due to unpredictable changes in weather conditions.

Likewise, there are some causal factors in burnout that we can have control over, and others that seem far beyond our capacity to influence. Figure 4 provides a context in which each of us operate in the world. On each of these levels, there may be some situations within our control or conversely, beyond our control. An analysis needs to be conducted in order to enact what can, or cannot be changed. For instance, on a meta level (the peripheral ring in Figure 4), Golembiewski and Munzenrider (1988) identify
five general causes of the increasing prevalence of burnout in modern western societies. These include: an escalating pace of life; dramatically extended life spans; escalating demands of work; intense commitment to work; disadvantaged groups; and "haves" and "havenots".

On a micro level, a person within a team/program/organization (inner levels of Figure 4), may have control over decisions relating to intense commitment to work, but have absolutely no control over dramatically extended life spans. Ideally, in the concentric zone diagram there is free flow between the different levels in both directions (what might be termed permeable membranes) where movement or flow is in both directions. For example, a team may be influenced by the organization, just as the organization may be influenced by the team. In reality, there may only be a one way flow. For instance, the organization may dictate to the team what and how programs are conducted.

The shift to a postmodern economic rationalism has meant the creation of changes to the workforce that can actively encourage burnout and over which the individual may have little or no control. This includes down sizing, cost cutting, the prevalence of performance indicators in all work places and outcomes oriented programs. Such factors have led to the workforce experiencing some, or all, of the following:

- Organisational change and restructure
- Increased workload due to understaffing
- Lack of performance standards and job descriptions
- Lack of career development policy
- Poor delegation and motivation
- Ineffective management
- Unfair work practices/poor reward system
- Stressful work environment
- Lack of recognition/feedback
- Low group morale/poor company image

[From: Video Trainers Manual (1995)].

Maslach (1981) cited in Pines and Aronson (1988) identifies six target areas in the workforce that contribute to burnout. These include: work overload; lack of control; insufficient reward; unfairness; breakdown of community; and value conflict. Yet again, unfairness in the workplace may be a factor over which we have a modicum of control whereas breakdown of community and value conflict may be impossible to address on a personal level.

What are the symptoms of burnout?
A fire fighter may be able to examine the smoke from a bushfire in order to ascertain its level of severity. In fact, smoke colour provides an indicator of fire behaviour: dense white, grey, black, copper-bronze are the stages of a continuum progressing from mild to severe intensity.

When too many factors beyond our control dominate those within our control, the following symptoms of burnout begin to present: a 'why bother' attitude; frequent illness; sleep disturbance; boredom; frustration and irritability; strained communications; lowered performance; loss of concentration; social and emotional withdrawal; loss of interest in sex; and fatigue and lethargy (from Video Trainers Manual, 1995). In fact, many of these qualities could be characterised as a person suffering from depression (Herman, 1992; Donatelle & Davis, 2000).

During partial burnout, one or a few symptoms may present and therefore be representative of the lower end of the fire danger index (white or grey smoke). During full blown or extreme burnout, many of the symptoms manifest and are representative of the higher fire danger index (black or copper-bronze smoke).

Perhaps it is more useful to view burnout as stages on a continuum with various symptoms manifesting at each stage. In the metaphor of the bushfire, due to sufficient fuel load (leaf litter, twigs, branches and tall grasses), the fire progresses from a ground level, manageable fire, to a dangerous, unpredictable fire spreading rapidly from tree top to tree top. Within this context, the wild, raging out of control fire, translates as the person in full blown burnout exhibiting most of the above symptoms.

The Phoenix Rising Out of the Ashes/Bush Regeneration

As described earlier, death and devastation seem to characterise the post- bushfire stage, however this is not all the story, as was hinted at in the Greek/Latin etymological origins. Within a few weeks buds appear from the ashes, or the blackened trunks of seemingly dead trees; certain species of eucalypts spread their seeds only due to the intense temperatures; grasses spring up from the dead earth. Within a few years, the total forest may be regenerated with very little evidence of bushfire scarring. This truly is a "rebirth", a purification, new life. Life and death are inextricably linked in this natural cycle - "at the centre are the seeds; at the centre is the engendering fire. That which
germinates burns. That which burns germinates" (Bachelard, 1968. p.41).

Similarly, those persons who have been affected to a very large extent by burnout
in their lives, have the prospect of new birth, new life and purification. The mythical Phoenix bird is killed by fire, yet rises above it in flight to new life. As the embodiment of the sun god this sacred bird is consumed again and again from the fire and arises from the ashes (Cotteral, 1989). Such a mythological theme reinforces the lesson illustrated by the bushfire – that after death, comes new life.

As Bachelard (1968, p. 16) stated ‘the fascinated individual hears the call of the funeral pyre. For him, destruction is more than a change, it is a renewal’.

Choices may be made to pursue totally different career paths. Times of regeneration, rest and renewal are critical in bringing self back to a balance. Salient lessons learnt from why burnout occurs provide indicators for future behaviour. Bachelard (1968, p. 17) hints at the drastic nature of the all encompassing burnout:

....love, death and fire are united at the same moment....this total death which leaves no trace is the guarantee that our whole person has departed for the beyond. To lose everything in order to gain everything. The lesson taught by the fire is clear: after having gained all through skill, through love or through violence you must give up all, you must annihilate yourself.

The Chinese see the natural function of the fire element as it ‘generates and controls, protects and integrates, sorts and harmonises energies for the joyful and loving expression of 'being' (Hammer, 1990, p. 88).

The message in Figure 6 by well known Australian cartoonist, Michael Leunig portrays this notion.

Hazard Reduction: doing our own back-burning
In Australia fire management procedures incorporate hazard reduction/control burn strategies in order to minimise harm. For example, home owners in fire susceptible areas are encouraged to reduce the quantity of vegetation around houses. This may involve judicious pruning, weeding, tidying and burning since “doubling the fine fuel quantity causes sixteen times the damage” (Webster, 2000, p. 186).

There are steps that may be taken when early symptoms of burnout emerge, or decisions made in regard to factors that are within our control, that make changes possible before burnout reaches such an extreme state. Not all fires reach drastic burnout stage. Frequent back burning minimises damage. The adage "if you play with fire, you'll get burnt" is not the sole way of viewing burnout. "Getting burnt" can be a soulful experience tapping us into new depths of our being. This is often referred to as soul work (Cousineau, 1995).

This need to penetrate, to go to the interior of things, to the interior of beings, is one attraction of the intuition of inner heat. Where the eye cannot go, where the hand does not enter, there heat insinuates itself. This communion at the interior, this thermal sympathy, will...find its symbol in the descent into the depths of the mountain, into the grotto and the mine (Bachelard, 1968, p 40).

Spotting and Quenching the Fire: some guidelines
Supervision and therapy are essential ingredients to ensure sustainability and longevity for those involved in the field. It may also be useful to consider the use of psychological profiles (for instance DISC and MBTI) to determine the capability and suitability of the therapeutic team. This point is reiterated by Maslach and Leiter (1997, p.9) who state, that ‘a mismatch between the nature of the job and the nature of the person who does the job’ is problematic.

To initiate the healing process, either during or after burnout, Australian naturopath Williams (1989) has suggested working with the nature of the metabolic imbalance. Diet, relaxation, nutrient replacement, avoidance of stimulants and people or situations which drain energy, are all factors which may assist recovery.

Conclusion
Burnout seems to be increasing in prevalence and this is particularly true for those involved in outdoor education. Those of us who choose to use the natural environment, whether in a therapeutic or educational context, have a lot to learn from nature. Through our imaginative examination of a naturally occurring process, light has been shed on a similar naturally occurring process in human beings.

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