There’s an invisible gap in support for Cycle Breaker Helping professionals (Cycle Makers) who are exceptionally suited for change making. They are a hidden population because they are often high achieving, have already broken important cycles in their lives, and are now committed to now helping others for a living. 

Cycle Makers in the early stages of their careers are faced with unique vulnerabilities. Cycle Makers often identify with the archetype of the wounded healers: Helping professionals who are committed to helping others in part because of their own experiences with trauma and overwhelm. In one sense, helping others feels like a super power but on the other hand they are more susceptible to burnout and having difficulty naming (or receiving adequate support for these unique dynamics in the work environment). Furthermore, Cycle makers are at risk of moral injury, where they are encouraged to engage in professional practices that feel on some level harmful to individuals they most want to serve, but without access to power and clear ability to articulate the harm.  

And this is where much of the support opportunities break down. Individuals with promising futures, get left behind and sucked back into old patterns of trauma, overwhelm and internalized shame they’ve worked much of their lives to overcome. Suffering in silence, doubting their soul’s work, and facing social, emotional and financial barriers to the support they need, many cycle makers leave their profession in the first 5 years.