Compassion Fatigue Solutions

Hosted by Gluckstein and Associates
Here is information from their flyer:

Presenters:

Anna B. Baranowsky, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Founder and Director of the Traumatology Institute (Canada), presents a
resiliency enhancement program that is both didactic and experiential and is
designed to turn Compassion Fatigue into Compassionate Rejuvenation.

Karl LaRowe, M.A., LCSW
International speaker and author, Karl LaRowe is one of the leading authorities
on transforming compassion fatigue into energy and engagement.

REGISTRATION + INFORMATION

Due to the popularity of this Seminar & Workshop we encourage you to register early as space is limited.

Early Bird Registration:

• Before October 1st, 2008, the registration fee is $85.00
• After October 1st, 2008, the registration fee is $100.00
• Registration includes Continental Breakfast, Lunch & Workshop Materials.

To register, call Gluckstein & Associates LLP 416.408.4252

For more information: www.compassionfatigueseminar.com

That's what Quill and Quire had to say about Tilda Shalof's two books: "A Nurse's Story" and "The Making of a Nurse"

I devoured these two books in 48 hours. Could not put them down.

Tilda Shalof is an intensive care nurse who works in Toronto and has been in the field for over 20 years. She is also a gifted writer and storyteller. I found her books riveting for two reasons. The first is that I have always loved hospitals (go figure, I know that is rather unusual) and found her account of working in the ICU absolutely fascinating. She describes the dynamics between nurses, dealing with doctors and residents, patients and their families, particularly when things go wrong.

The second thing I found fascinating about these books was her description of the challenges of the work on nurses' emotional and physical well being. In "The making of a nurse" she describes the phenomenon of somatic empathy perfectly: “[patients] needed to feel that I was steady and in control, but I couldn’t always offer them that security. I caught their emotions as if they were contagious. Sometimes, merely being in the presence of a patient, family member, or even another nurse, who was flustered, anxious, or angry would affect me, and I would respond in tandem.“ [...]

“I’m panicking,” she said in a tremulous voice. I looked around the room for a chair and luckily, just then, the technician caught her as she keeled over. Full-blown panic had finally done her in […] I exhaled, I hadn’t realized how shallow my breathing had become, how tight my chest was, how jittery I felt. I had caught a bad case of her panic” Tilda Shalof, (2007, p.130)

This is a concept that I discuss at length during my half day and full compassion fatigue workshops. Babette Rothschild explores several concrete strategies to deal with this somatic empathy in her book Help for the Helper (2006).

One caveat: A colleague of mine who has a great deal of experience in acute care nursing did warn that Tilda's books may be retraumatizing for anyone who has worked in critical care or has experienced ICU first or second hand as her descriptions are quite detailed and very accurate. (thank you for that, Jan)

I'm off to Montreal this week, to present at the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, then Timmins next week for a one day presentation in the community. This has been a full and busy Fall with a lot of writing and workshop design and more to come. It's a wonderful profession. Truly.

Betting on Mental Health for Seniors
Making Connections between Gambling and Mental Health. What are the odds?

Date: Tuesday November 25th, 2008
Where: The Canadian Mental Health Association – Kingston Branch, 6 Ordnance Street, Kingston, ON
Time: 8:30 – 4:00
Cost: $25.00 Includes snacks, lunch and A Problem Gambling Prevention Clinical Manual for Service Providers with handouts

A Collaborative Partnership Between The Canadian Mental Health Association Kingston Branch:Brenda Miller and Options for Change:Chris Myers

To Register: Call Brenda: 613-549-7027

Doctor: "I have some great news for you!"

Me: "ok, wonderful, what's the diagnosis then?"

Doctor: "Oh it's a very benign problem that can easily be solved with one minor change to your diet"

Me: "Great, I'm a healthy eater so no problemo. Tell me what to do"

Doctor: "No caffeine, ever. No coffee, no tea, no diet coke, no pepsi, no dark chocolate, no green tea, no nasal decongestants or cough syrups. That's it. You'll be right as rain."

Me: "WHAT? But that's terrible! Can I have decaf? Please tell me I can at least drink decaf?

Doctor: (clearly realising she has an addict on her hands): "Yeah, sure, decaf is fine but only one a day. It still has trace amount of caffeine in it you know."

So there you go, that day last week marked the end of my long love affair with coffee. Luckily I don't eat much chocolate so that's not so bad. But coffee... the taste, the aroma, the anticipation when I hear the cappucino maker frothing... (I once worked in a coffee shop for a whole summer and lived on lattes and leftover muffins. I was one wired barrista).

What has been interesting about this has been to note my friends and acquaintances' reactions. Coincidentally, most of them were clutching a disposable cup of coffee while I talked to them about it. All of them looked horrified, as though I had told them about a terrible diagnosis I had just received. "Oh my goodness, that's awful! Poor you!" One joked "Sorry, we can't be friends anymore!

Then, three days of headaches, fatigue and basically thinking about coffee all the time.

Phew.

Now that I am on the other side, I realise that when I get up in the morning, I can in fact engage in conversation with my children right away and don't have to shove them out of the way to make a beeline for the coffee pot.

Interesting.

I am not suggesting that any of you coffee drinkers out there should quit, but I was a bit shocked to observe how strong the withdrawal symptoms were for someone who is a 2 cups a day gal.

I am most interested in the fact that I can no longer rely on caffeine to keep me going if I am tired during the day. (Bad night's sleep? no problem, I'll just have a cup of coffee at lunch). So interestingly, no being able to drink coffee means I have to have even better self care in general. And when I'm tired, my choices are power nap or brisk walk outside instead of sitting at my computer with one more cup of joe.

See you later coffee!

The Fall training is starting in earnest this week, with a presentation in Hamilton at a Trauma conference and a one day Train the Trainer workshop in London. I have spent a great deal of time writing the Train the Trainer manual, so sadly I am all worded out for what is normally a favourite activity of mine - the weekly blog. I am also busy putting the finishing touch on the Walking the Walk workbook which will soon be available to purchase online and by regular post. This workbook will lead readers through the full Walking the Walk: Creative Tools for Transforming Compassion Fatigue one day workshop. It was designed for distance learners and those who enjoy learning at their own pace. The workbook offers a comprehensive description of compassion fatigue and vicarious traumatization and leads the reader through many experiential activities designed to target specific areas in their personal and professional lives. It offers concrete strategies to making a real change in your life as a helping professional.

If this is of interest to you, please visit this space in a few weeks to receive notification of the workbook launch.

Things are heating up around here. I have been very busy putting the final touches to the One and Two day train the trainer workshops scheduled for September and November and I am trying to find a superlative that adequately conveys the excitement I feel at finally getting a training workbook completed after all this time and simply at having had enough uninterrupted time to just write and think.

For participants planning to attend a train the trainer session in the Fall: I have created a new web page (a Train the Trainer site) which can be found at cftrainers.blogspot.com

For now it's all going to be deposited there, but I may reorganise it all later so it makes more sense. Just bear with me, if you please.

If you are coming to a training session with me this Fall, I invite you to go have a look and subscribe to receive updates.

There are still a few seats left to attend this one day Train the Trainer course in London. Please note that this workshop is also going to be offered in Winnipeg November 28th.

This workshop is designed for helping professionals who wish to become compassion fatigue educators and trainers.

Details on the London Training:

Compassion Fatigue Train the Trainer - the One Day Course
September 17th, 2008
Women's Community House, London, Ont.
With Françoise Mathieu, M.Ed. CCC.
Hosted by Solutions on Site

Develop the skills and knowledge base to deliver a creative and practical Compassion Fatigue workshop in your agency or community. Based on the fundamentals of Françoise’s inspiring one day Walking the Walk workshop, this training will teach you how to deliver a workshop that incorporates a combination of solo, small group and whole group activities.

Prerequisites to attend:

To fully benefit from this training session, you need to have either:

A minimum of one day of prior training in Compassion Fatigue and/or Vicarious Trauma and a good working knowledge of the basic concepts related to compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma

OR

If you do not have prior training but wish to attend, you can prepare by completing the following steps:

1) Read the following two articles: Running on Empty: Compassion Fatigue in Health Care professionals and Transforming compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction: Top 12 Self Care tips for helpers which you can obtain by going to my website: www.compassionfatigue.ca, and clicking on Resources and Links. You will see the articles there as pdfs. I can also email them to you: whp at cogeco.ca

2) Watch the 1.5 hour video "The Basics" which can be found at http://www.ohtnmedia.org/ohrdp/conf_2008/video_07/
or view it by going to my website: www.compassionfatigue.ca and click on resources and links and then on multimedia

3) Complete the compassion fatigue self test and review your scores. To receive this self test automatically, email: thingy at aweber.com (change the "at" to an @)

4) Visit this blog's archives and have a read

In order to benefit from this training, you must have completed either of the prerequisites.

For More info:
www.sosworkshops.ca
Solutions On Site, 143 Forward Ave, London, On
Phone: 519-640-2030