Work-life balance.

Leisa Moorhouse
July 11, 2025
•
5 min read

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Balancing professional and personal responsibilities

Balancing professional responsibilities and obligations with personal ones is challenging whether we are new practitioners, or seasoned ones. This was the subject a supervisee “Tegan” (not her real name) brought to supervision.

Tegan lives in an area she has whakapapa connections to, and works for a local Māori provider supporting rangatahi (youth) in relation to a range of wellbeing indicators. She lives with whānau (extended family) members, which is in close proximity to other relatives, meaning whānau contact is frequent. Her upbringing and role in her whānau means that she carries a lot for her whānau, and is someone who whānau members often seek out for advice and support.

Tegan was struggling with how to complete all her work tasks and maintain her own wellbeing, including managing fatigue from her busy and emotionally draining job. She also needed to meet requirements for her current studies along with responsibilities she has to her whānau. Her current strategy of continually saying she was unavailable to colleagues and to whānau, left her feeling conflicted. Tegan wanted to be available for whānau and for colleagues, but was feeling so time-poor that she couldn’t give time and energy to others without feeling like she was short-changing herself. Despite her attempt to maintain boundaries and focus on time management, she was not happy that the situation left her feeling overwhelmed.

Supervision as a safe reflective space

When Tegan raised these issues in supervision, I clarified what she was hoping for from our kōrero. Sometimes supervisees want solely to vent in supervision, rather than explore strategies, consider theoretical perspectives, or determine ethical responses. Supervision should be a safe space to express feelings and concerns without fear of being judged or the supervisor trying to ‘fix’ a situation. It is also important that as a Supervisor I check what my supervisee wants out of our time – if I assume what they want, I might respond to the situation they brought in quite a different direction to what my supervisee needs, leaving them feeling unheard and frustrated.

Once I understood that Tegan needed to share her reflections on her situation and explore strategies for better responding to her many commitments, we unpacked what she had already tried as well as some alternative ideas that might work. Sometimes in supervision we map out a supervisee’s week (or month) on a whiteboard. Looking at their commitments - work and home – visually can give a helpful picture of what they are carrying, and what can, or perhaps need to change. A visual picture can be powerful in understanding the extent of a situation, allowing people to literally see their load, and the scope of their commitments. This can be an effective tool so that people aren’t solely carrying these things in their head or their bodies - which can express itself as unwellness. This activity can sometimes help supervisees realise their load is in fact more manageable than they thought, that carrying it in their head made it feel worse than it is.

Finding comfortable limits to work and home demands

For Tegan it was important that I understood her connection and care for her whānau, and that her sense of responsibility to various whānau members was about her love for them, and her wish to be supportive, not that it was merely obligations she had which she had no desire to fulfil. Her strong grounding in te ao Māori contributed to her views and was therefore key in exploring how she might respond to her current situation.

This led to us exploring ways of responding to whānau and colleagues that balanced giving of herself and her time a little more whilst keeping some limits to this. Identifying phrases such as “I’d love to talk with you about that. I’ve got 15 minutes now, and perhaps if we need more time than that, we can suss that out later” were helpful. Tegan felt comfortable with such phrases, feeling that it honoured her care and connection with the person, whilst allowing her to meet deadlines and work commitments.

In looking more broadly at her self-care at this point in her life, Tegan identified that she needed to reinstate her restorative practice of spending time in the bush. I shared with Tegan a whakataukī (proverb) which states “Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua. Look backwards, while advancing forwards”. This resonated with Tegan as we explored what she had tried in the past, what worked, and what she needed to change in this current period. Together we came up with some ideas for her putting in place those practices which she found beneficial for her hauora, in a way that would not feel like her wellbeing was another ‘chore’ on her already long list.

Ongoing maintenance of self-care and our wellbeing / hauora

Considering the different domains of wellbeing is a great way to look at how we are doing in navigating our wellbeing. Sometimes we are very aware of those areas where we are lagging, and other times the gradual creep into poor health habits happens without us being fully conscious of it. The reality is that ‘life happens’ so often it’s not until we take time in supervision to consciously ‘audit’ ourselves that we realise that the extra busy time at work, a week of being unwell, or a significant family event, has meant that our previously ordered, well-balanced approach to the work:life balance has taken a hit.

This is what happened for Tegan. She realised through our kōrero that her love of nature, and need to be in te taiao had not been prioritised for some weeks. We identified ways she could reimplement this into her week, without it feeling like a burden.

Tegan left our supervision session saying that she felt lighter, stating that her previously overwhelming list of things to do at work and home felt more manageable. She also spoke of how she looks forward to supervision, enjoying it as a space to unload, come up with creative solutions to issues, and feel validated as to who she is, and the things which she values.

Using supervision to pause and take stock honestly and openly

I acknowledged Tegan’s strong reflective approach which meant she had processed some thoughts and feelings prior to our session, and was eager to consider the subject in supervision. Tegan is keen to learn so is open to different ideas and perspectives, which makes her a strong practitioner. Bringing this issue to supervision, being open to honestly explore it, and to consider possible strategies to move forward, makes her a great kaimahi.

The safe, relational approach provided in supervision helped draw on her strengths, enabling her to return to her mahi more focused and better able to navigate the challenge of balancing professional and personal responsibilities and demands. Both of us left supervision feeling satisfied with the depth of the kōrero, knowing that positive, workable strategies paved a way forward for her to balance demands, and maintain her wellbeing.

The reality is that needing support and guidance to navigate challenging periods and competing demands can come at any stage in our career. And often it comes up multiple times! We get into the helping profession out of our desire to help others, and at times, designate our own wellbeing to lowest priority. The key thing is realising this, and taking it to a safe, supportive place to identify how to move forward.

“Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua. Look backwards, while advancing forwards.”

Glossary

Hauora – wellbeing
Kaimahi – worker/s
Kōrero – talk, discussion
Mahi – work
Rangatahi – young person/people
Te ao Māori – the Māori world
Te taiao – outdoors, the environment
Whakapapa – genealogical, lineage, descent
Whakataukī – proverb
Whānau – extended family