Compassion Fatigue Solutions

This photo was taken by my father during the last snowstorm that sent gazillions of centimetres of snow on Ontario and Quebec. And yes, that's a real car, now a toy one. I dread to think of all that snow melting sometime soon.

In early March, I met a group of incredibly dedicated, positive and open minded helpers at the Ontario Harm Reduction Conference conference in Ottawa. They were helpers in the harm reduction field (folks who work in needle exchange, methadone programs and other work with individuals with drug addictions). I would like to thank them for they generosity and willingness to take risks during the three compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma workshop I delivered. Apparently one of these presentations was videotaped and will be availabe online shortly: www.ohrdp.ca. I do not often have the opportunity to run small group workshops, but at this conference a special 3 hour session had been planned with a cap at 20 participants. There is a depth of sharing and connection during a small event like this that is unparalleled. And for someone who usually does large group presentations, what a treat!

If you read my travel story to Winnipeg a few weeks back (the one with the airplane being de-iced) you will recall that getting there and back with two back-to-back storms was a challenge. Well, two weeks ago I attempted to travel from Ottawa, make a pit stop in Kingston to refill suitcase and kiss the family and fly to Edmonton. Storms galore made the pit stop impossible and I ended up being in 4 different hotels in 3 different cities, washing my socks in hotel sinks (and drying them with the hair dryer) and eventually getting home days late. I am a pretty laid back kind of gal, and I took it all in stride, read books, drank lattes and enjoyed the unexpected turn of events (other than being in a trembling 18 seater plane during the last leg of the trip when the storm hit full force and we couldn't land at home, see below). But during this trip, I made some wonderful connections that made me reflect on human nature, groups dynamics and the like.

On our final leg of the trip. Flying from Toronto to Kingston, the weather conditions were becoming increasingly poor and the pilot announced, as we were scheduled to land in Kingston that the runway was too unsafe and we would have to return to our original destination.

This is never good news, but it was even more discouraging as we all knew that a huge storm was headed our way and that we would likely be unable to get out of Toronto the next day (which turned out to be accurate). Moments later, the pilot announced that actually we couldn’t fly back to Toronto as we needed to refuel (gulp) we were going to land in Ottawa instead.

To make a long story short, the evening ended with 8 of us in a hotel bar, sharing stories, getting to know each other, realising that the world does indeed only have 6 degrees of separation (or if you live in a small community like Kingston, .5 degrees). I met a poet, a marine biologist, an IT expert, an oil guy and his wife who love living in the People's Republic of Georgia and several other fascinating individuals, all with their own reasons for going to Kingston (mostly to see loved ones).

This may seem like a simple enough story, but I was fascinated to see how we came together, helped each other out and mostly just laughed together. Loretta Laroche, positive psychology expert and stand up comic says that children laugh on average 400 times a day, and by adulthood that is reduced to 15 times per day… That's kind of sad don't you think?

Happy Easter for those of you who celebrate it, happy Purim and finally happy Human Rights Day (S. Africa according to my calendar).