ABSTRACT
This chapter exposes the pitfalls of personal heroics in service and burnout. Advocating a sophisticated version of asset-based engagement with community-partnered programs, this narrative identifies why and how readily-partnered resources go overlooked, dismissed, and/or underutilized. Raising the heat of relational and programmatic burnout, assumptions rooted in overwrought self-confidence – even with good intentions – collide with issues of class and race. These dynamics begin the collapse of a neighborhood youth program when service providers cross a threshold of local power based on their “all up to me” approach. Exercises teach how to inventory our own limits and leverage those insights to foster honest communication with partners to create more effective next steps. Finally, a Caring Breath practice encourages self-insight and empathy amid learning to let go of an “all up to me” approach.
