Compassion Fatigue Solutions

Last week was very rich and stimulating as I had the opportunity to spend three consecutive days with a small group of helping professionals in the context of a compassion fatigue train the trainer workshop. It is always a real treat to have a small group to work with, as we get to actually talk things through and explore ideas in a way that I don't get to do with larger audiences. (Thank you to all of you for your willingness to take part in this process and for putting up with the many bizarre hotel-induced mishaps which took place during our time together!)

This week, I am off to Ottawa for a one day workshop with victim service workers and then to Cornwall to present to a group of helpers who work for correctional services. The challenges for both of these groups are complex, but one main issue is related to vicarious traumatization - being exposed to difficult client stories, even in a secondary way. If your job is to read crime reports day in and day out, eventually these stories have an impact on how you see the world. They simply do. If you work in a correctional environment, the very air you breathe is filled with trauma stories. What to do with this reality? How do we protect ourselves from trauma content? One suggestion (many more are included in my book, The Compassion Fatigue Workbook) is to read the wonderful book Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. Laura offers an excellent conceptualisation of trauma work and its impact on us, but also provides strategies, which she anchors conceptually in what she calls the Five Directions: "As we do our work, we continually seek strength by finding our center in the present moment. At the same time, we strive to enhance our self-knowledge by focusing consciously and concretely on the basic elements of our lives. The things we learn at the four outlying points of our compass of trauma stewarship will become the tools we can use to build a daily practice of centering ourselves." If you work with victims of crime or with survivors (who are sometimes perpetrators as well), I encourage you to take a look at her work.