The Silent Struggle: Burnout Among Health professionals
APR 2025 / by Dr Dena van den Bergh / Wellbeing for Health Professionals
"Truely effective leaders know that replenishing themselves is the key to their best work." - Dr Dena van den Bergh
As a health professional, I am not proud to say I’ve been on the edge of burnout too many times.
Still to this day, the overwhelming culture of healthcare and healthtech professionals - and especially for women - is to sacrifice our needs in service of patients or projects.
The Vicious Cycle I Had to Break to Become a better Healthcare Leader
For me, things like travelling, taking time off, and putting boundaries around my wellbeing seemed indulgent, self-important, even disloyal. I thought healthcare leadership meant working 24/7. I could never find the time to take care of myself because I was always so busy.
I would work long hours to the point of exhaustion and then take a few days leave to recover, only to repeat the pattern over and over. To make matters worse, without the adrenalin I often got sick on my leave - my husband would call it ‘holiday-itis’.
Practical Shifts to Prevent Burnout for Health Professionals
Thankfully there was a relentless voice inside me that knew it was up to me to change this and I began to explore different practices and modes of operating to get out of the vicious cycle.
Some of these have included my own yoga and meditation practice, as well as pushing for work culture and systemic changes in the teams and companies I’ve worked with.
It pains me to this day how hard it is for so many health professionals to care for ourselves with the same commitment and drive we have in caring for others.
I believe this change needs both a mindset shift, as well as practical actions taken individually and as a collective in healthcare.
Because truly effective leaders know that replenishing themselves is the key to their best work.
What can you do today to take the time for self care? What support do you need to prioritize your wellbeing?
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Hi, I'm Dr Dena
van den Bergh.
I'm an award-winning healthcare change leader, global researcher and large scale change maker.
With a career spanning over 30 years as an executive in healthcare, I am an authority in change leadership and health systems innovation with experience on the hospital front lines to the boardroom, international conference stage, and beyond.
I have worked with South Africa's largest healthcare groups and funders in the public and private sector and collaborated with global change leaders in large scale health systems improvement.
My Doctorate in Engineering from Warwick University gave me a love for systems thinking which I integrated with my clinical expertise to create a unique approach to healthcare change leadership.
I now work independently with leaders, teams and organisations to successfully implement health systems improvement co-designed with stakeholders.
My goal is to empower accomplished and emerging leaders to thrive in their lives and their careers and inspire them to make a powerful impact in shaping the future of health systems globally.
I am an industry leader in change leadership and implementation of health systems improvement as well as a passionate advocate for value-based care and addressing the gap of vital employee and public input into designing better health systems for all.
In 2015 I was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in Quality Improvement in South Africa by Discovery Health for my change leadership work across the public and private sector.
A world citizen at heart, I frequently collaborate internationally and present and publish my work at the global level in order to expand my contribution and exchange knowledge to better my own work.
I am an honorary research associate at UCT Dept. of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV and a senior editor for the peer reviewed international journal JAC-AMR.
I am also an internationally certified leadership coach, an IHI trained Healthcare Improvement Advisor, an advanced Presencing and Theory U facilitator for social change and certified in Leadership Mastery with the Institute of Woman-Centered Coaching, Training and Leadership.
I am a committed yoga, meditation and wellness practitioner and love spending time in nature with my friends and family.
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