Building resilience and preventing burnout among aid workers in Palestine: a personal account of mindfulness based staff care

The field report is a personal account of introducing the practice of mindfulness to humanitarian professionals working in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to help them reduce stress and address issues of burnout. Mindfulness refers to the systematic cultivation of awareness that emerges through paying attention to the present moment, with compassion and open hearted curiosity. Through cultivating mindful awareness, we discover how to live in the present moment, rather than brooding about the past or worrying about the future. Through mindfulness based interventions, the author, a psychologist with humanitarian experience, aims to foster a culture of ‘learning and care’ among aid workers and their agencies. The underlying vision acknowledges the interconnection between personal health and global health, between personal transformation and global transformation.