Sustaining Servant-Leadership: Balancing Self-Care and Burnout in the Staff of Fight4Freedom, a Christian Non-Profit, Anti-Sex Trafficking Organization

Abstract

This portfolio explored the impact and influence of burnout on staff with Fight4Freedom (F4F), a Christian non-profit, anti-sex trafficking organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It began with a personal exploration of the author’s journey through burnout. It explored servant leadership within the Christian non-profit sector, emphasizing the importance of leader self-care as a safeguard against burnout—both for the leader and the organization they support. Burnout was the subject of increasing attention in the non-profit sector, particularly in the anti-sex trafficking field. Throughout this portfolio, the researcher shared his own leadership experience and journey, as well as personal skills and ministry development, incorporating his philosophy of Christian leadership regarding the subject of burnout. Qualitative and quantitative data in assessment instruments, surveys, and interviews were used to gather useful information on burnout within F4F and the strategies necessary to address this reality. A focus group of eight participants from F4F developed their own solutions to the issue of burnout in the organization. A set of recommendations and best practices for F4F were developed from the research and shared with the leadership team and Board of Directors. The recommendations focused on accountability around workload, time-off considerations, work-life balance, policies that protect staff, training opportunities, and a system of professional, holistic, wellness support for the staff. The discussion of these outcomes led to the creation of an update to the policy manual of F4F to help mitigate the risk of burnout in F4F.