Diversity Burnout is Real - Here's How to Fight Against It

I run marathons.

I started running marathons in 2012 and have so far run 19. I’ve run a marathon on every continent except Antarctica and run one sub-3 hour marathon. I am currently in training to run my 20th marathon in Rome at the end of March.

Lots of people like to exercise and have hobbies. So why am I writing about my marathon exploits on a blog about media diversity?

Because I want to write about doing work around diversity and protecting your mental health.

The truth is I would not be able to do any of my diversity work if I did not run.

Every marathon I complete gives me a simple sense of achievement. The process is incredibly linear -  I put in the training, I am then able to run a marathon. Running gives me a sense of control

When it comes to diversity work it can feel like the exact opposite.

Ethnic diversity behind the camera has hardly budged in the last ten. 

Disability numbers have increased in some media organisations but most people think that is more down to recategorization of people as opposed to actual real increases. 

And while there have been some substantial gender gains one only has to look at gender pay gap issues to question at what cost have these achievements have been gained.

This lack of linear progress was brought into sharp focus less than two weeks ago when Bafta announced its nominations shortlist and not a single person of colour was nominated in any of the male or female acting categories.

The next day Samira Ahmed won her gender pay dispute against the BBC. Instead of simply apologizing the BBC issued a statement implying the employment tribunal had reached the wrong decision.

This was then followed a few days later with the ongoing public debate around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and whether sections of the media had been racist in their coverage of the couple.

And then just a few days ago the BBC announced it was planning to move major parts of its workforce from areas with a high BAME concentration to parts of the UK with low BAME concentrations. The statement failed to address how it might mitigate any detrimental effects on their BAME numbers.

These four events occuring in less than two weeks highlighted just some of the major obstacles we face when it comes to media diversity

I’ll be honest with you, for someone who campaigns to increase media diversity the last two weeks felt like I was being physically beaten up.

And so I am writing about running.

I am writing about running because I have received a number of WhatsApp messages, emails, Tweets and even good old fashioned phone calls from people who feel the same as me.

Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

But I think the direction of causation can run in both directions; doing the same thing over and over and NOT getting a different result can drive you insane. 

The concept of “diversity burnout”, is a well-documented phenomenon and affects the mental health of people working to increase diversity.

A groundbreaking paper in 2017 written by University of North Carolina-Charlotte professor Ryan Miller and six colleagues from the University of North Texas, interviewed seven “diversity educators” from a “predominantly white research institution” .  The interviewees all claimed to suffer from “compassion fatigue,” “burnout,” and “racial battle fatigue”.

The burnout has two main causes; the first is a sense of complete helplessness being confronted by a major task, while the second is facing constant pushback as institutions find ways to undermine or subvert your work.

Assuming we want people to continue to fight for better diversity what should we do? Because asking people to sacrifice their mental wellbeing for possible gains in the future is not feasible or even ethical.

The first is to acknowledge that diversity burnout is real - .people are struggling.

Second, we need to support each other. Whether that  is simply by listening to each other, celebrating our achievements or sharing coping strategies - such as running marathons - we are our own best medicine. 

And third, we must give up on the erroneous notion that progress, unlike my marathons, is linear. If we buy into the idea that progress is linear then the four examples I gave at the beginning means we are going backwards and all our hard work is for nothing.

Also if we believe in linear progress then when there are advances people brush off the need for more work by saying “we might not be advancing at the speed you want but things are getting better”.

The reality is progress is messy and diversity work is messy. We can advance in some areas while going backwards in others. New obstacles can occur that never existed previously，  while other obstacles can disappear  - not because of our hard work but because circumstances have changed.  

And so today I just wanted to write a simple message to everyone who cares about diversity:

I know things can be hard, and I know the last couple of weeks have  not been easy, but please look after yourself and each other.

Do not buy into damaging narratives of what progress, success or failure look like.

And most of all anyone who wants to run a marathon - please feel free to DM me :)