Reading bodies: Burnout, Overload and Resilience

According to Mental Health UK, 'burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress, for example, working a stressful job'. Responding to these challenges from an Arts and Humanities perspective, our Reading Bodies anthology gives voice to lived experience of burnout, overload and resilience through creative expression. By sharing our anthology of poetry, stories and artwork on these themes, we hope to inspire readers, including health and wellbeing practitioners, to explore the value of incorporating creative and artistic responses in their professional roles.

Bringing together new voices and established authors, including flash fiction by award-wining writers Kim Squirrell and Kit de Waal, poetry and visual artwork, the anthology presents over 40 submissions by educators, academics, health professionals, creative writers, illustrators and other members of the public. The creative methodologies developed for Reading Bodies aim to bridge the gap between Medical Humanities research and lived experience, supporting new ways of understanding and tackling the health issues addressed.

Through participant surveys, we have identified key impacts such as building community, alongside cultural and behavioural change. For example, 80% of respondents said that by contributing to the anthology, they have an increased willingness to share ideas and experiences about burnout, overload and resilience. Feedback from participants includes comments such as: ‘[The anthology] creates a powerful sense of solidarity, care, community’; ‘[The book] being made and out in the world is a very empowering feeling.’ This initiative builds on evidence that ‘arts activities can provide opportunities for emotional expression, emotion regulation and stress reduction’ (European Region report ‘What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review’, 2019), providing creative resources for use in the workplace and our personal lives.

Reading Bodies: Burnout, Overload and Resilience, edited by Sally Flint and Katharine Murphy, Riptide Journal (University of Exeter), 2024.

More information can be found on the Reading Bodies project website. 

Image credit: James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 3 (1865–1867)