Compassion Fatigue Solutions

October is always a busy training month but this one takes the cake. I am just back from Timmins and Oshawa, I will be in Edmonton this week, then teaching at the Crisis Institute next week and then off to upstate New York for a three day course on the first weekend of November. I am not complaining, mind you, but my training schedule has meant that I have had to put a few projects on temporary hold until things quiet down a bit. The workbook is there, waiting to be proofread and sent to the printer, as are the questionnaires from the book project, which have been carefully filled out and returned and are awaiting my rapt attention. November will be a time for these projects, I hope.

Part of the dilemma when you have a private practice and a consulting business is finding the right balance between the two: I enjoy working individually with clients and do not want to stop doing clinics, and I also enjoy the workshops and training. Finally, I like to have time to read and write and think and come up with new ideas.
This is the eternal quest for the ideal schedule. Something that is not necessarily attainable but I keep on inching towards a closer approximation.

What would your ideal schedule look like?

However, never a slave to work, I am someone who protects my down time carefully and make sure I get plenty of sleep and good food and exercise. Today, Sunday, I prepared a spaghetti squash casserole and apple crisp for tonight's supper, went for a run in the gorgeous Fall morning, parented (an ongoing activity...!) and read a fascinating article on Dr Stephen Hwang, (see Globe and Mail Toronto section Saturday October 18th). Dr Hwang is a leading researcher in the field of homelessness who also works as a family doctor at Seaton House, Toronto's largest homeless shelter. I highly recommend you take a few minutes to read about this deeply caring man. Then I found a lead for a tasty $9.95 portuguese wine that tastes like it costs $14.95 and a recipe for a fragrant vietnamese soup. That, to me, is a day well spent.

Experience has taught me that there are some key things that need to remain intact even when I am busy to allow me to retain my equilibrium: plenty of sleep, healthy eating, exercise and some fresh air. Do you know what those are for you?

Friendly people, open hearts and minds, bilingual city, clear blue skies. What more can I say?
Thank you Timmins for your warm welcome, your constructive feedback and ideas. I had a wonderful visit here meeting a wide range of helping professionals. It was worth the bumpy trip in the ageing 12 seater airplane from bearskin airlines.

Nuts and bolts is the title I use for posts that have highly varied content. So here goes:

I am writing from Timmins which is in Northeastern Ontario. Last night, on my way here, I was amused to read the Bearskin Airlines airplane prospectus which described every port of call on their trajectory as "gateway to the north" "entry to the north" "portal to the north". They all seem to be competing for that tag line. Which one is the actual gateway to the north? All of them, I suspect, for various reasons. It's wonderful to be able to speak French everywhere I go, or franglais which is my favourite language, and, it seems, favourite for Timmins francophones as well.

I read a couple of interesting blog entries today which I invite you to visit.

1) www.zenhabits.net "Success isn't a competition" Leo, the author of this blog, lives in Guam (I think, I'll need to double check that) but far away from the gateway to the north, anyhow. I like his unpretentious look at stress reduction. He has a lot of good material on the blog. Go take a peek

2) www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

This is Tim Ferriss' blog, author of the bestseller "The Four Hour Workweek"
Now his book and his blog won't appeal to everyone. But if you are self-employed, or an entrepreneur, I highly recommend you read one of his latest posts called "Harnessing Entrepreneurial Manic-Depression: Making the Rollercoaster Work for You"
As someone who has been self employed for the past decade, I could completely relate to this post and agree with all of it.

Here is a brief update on what has been happening in the compassion fatigue solutions world:

I have been travelling nearly every week so far this Fall. I was in Montreal last week presenting at a rehabilitation hospital, this week I am off to Timmins in Northern Ontario, then Oshawa and Edmonton. Clients have been from the fields of healthcare, addictions, corrections and social services. It has been very interesting to meet helpers from such diverse fields and hear about their specific challenges given the work that they do and the clients they work with. I was also interviewed for my favourite radio show "White Coat, Black Art". Working with the media is always nerve-wracking as you speak for 45 minutes and they then reduce it to 8 minutes. I just hope they can respect the spirit of the message I was trying to convey. This show will apparently air in November, I will keep you posted if you are curious to hear it.

I am working on several things right now: starting interviews for the book, proofreading the compassion fatigue manuals that will be available for purchase in the coming weeks, and finalising details of upcoming training, more on this below.

Train the Trainer

I am very pleased to announce that the two day Train the Trainer workshop will be offered again in March and June, in Kingston, On. I will be sending a formal annoucement in the coming weeks. I already have 35 people on the waiting list so if you want to take this training, I encourage you to enroll as soon as you can to avoid disappointment.

The Manager's Guide to Stress, Burnout & Trauma in the Workplace, Kingston, May 2009 with Dr Pat Fisher

I have been wanting to offer a workshop to managers for a very long time. The Manager’s Guide to Stress, Burnout & Trauma in the Workplace Program has been specifically designed to assist managers as they address the problem in their workplaces and its impact on the staff they lead.

Patricia Fisher, Ph.D., R.Psych., L.Psych.
President & CEO.

Dr. Patricia Fisher is a clinical and consulting psychologist who has specialized in the field of workplace traumatic and systemic stress over the past 20 years. She has authored 6 texts and numbers of research papers on the subject, and is a frequent presenter at international conferences and professional meetings. Active as a clinician, researcher, and consultant, her work also includes program design and evaluation, curriculum development and training, policy development and organizational planning. Dr. Fisher’s work has focused on the needs of public service personnel in high risk areas such as human and social services, law enforcement, corrections, emergency services, and health care. More recently, the scope of application has increased to include a wide range of high stress private and public sector workplaces. Dr. Fisher has led the expansion of Fisher & Associates into the United States and currently resides in New York, while making periodic visits back to Canada

Stay tuned for dates and registration forms. To receive advance notification, please join our mailing list.