Compassion Fatigue and Professional Development

Free support materials offered below.

 Photo by Sam Tresco: Idaho Sunset 2010

Do you care for or give support to others (either people, animals, or the environment)?

Then you may experience compassion fatigue. The compassion you feel for others can have both positive and negative effects on you.

What is Compassion Fatigue?

Simply put, compassion fatigue means that your ability to feel compassion is compromised due to chronic stress.  Hans Seyle, a medical pioneer in the field, defined stress as the ‘nonspecific response to any demand, including the efforts to cope with the wear and tear in the body caused by life at any one time”. (The Stress of Life, Hans Sely, M.D, 1956). Stress is the failure of the body to adapt to these demands.  Caregivers can suffer from compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, secondary trauma, or burnout.

What are the negative effects?

The negative effects can include a growing sense of compassion fatigue can include frustration, isolation, depression, and exhaustion.

What is the good news?

The positive effects of being compassionate include feeling compassion satisfaction, that is feeling a sense of recharge and happiness resulting from your caregiving. The good news is this condition is being studied and considered by increasing numbers of professionals in diverse fields — psychology  and neuroscience are examples. Compassion fatigue now has a working vocabulary, and it has many informed, creative people contributing ideas on ways to help you deal with or minimize your compassion fatigue.

How do I know if I am suffering from Compassion Fatigue?

There is a short, easy survey that is a tool commonly used measure compassion fatigue in people working with those who have experienced trauma. The ProQOL has sub-scales for compassion satisfaction, burnout and compassion fatigue.  Complete the short ProQOL checklist (http://www.proqol.org/uploads/ProQOL_5_English_Self-Score_7_2011.pdf) to see if you may suffer from compassion fatigue.

What resources are available?

There are resources for you to access, from books, to workbooks, to checklists, to articles: Visit our website at (http://greentreeyoga.org/Programs/Compassion_Fatigue/compassionfatigue.htm) for some resources we find useful. And then to the resource list, GreenTREE Yoga would like to offer some simple yoga ideas.

         WHY YOGA?

Simple yoga exercises and breathing techniques can offer:

1. an accessible and simple way to immediately lower your blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormone levels (and of your clients or patients or family)

2. another facet to your self-care plan that includes physical and emotional ways to strengthen the mind and body

3. a way to retrain the brain to help the mind work in a more positive, healthier way

4. a way to address both anxiety and depression — perk up or calm down, yoga can do both.

And that’s just the short list.

       SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS.

Here are some easy steps to help you incorporate this simple tool into your personal self-care stress management box of tools.

1. Set yourself up for success from the start. If you have 2 or even 5 minutes, start with this time. Learn some easy stretching and breathing techniques — go to our FREE page and enjoy the breaks, both mp3s and some written ideas.  All under 5 minutes.  It will grow naturally from there as you meet with success and like how it feels.  CLICK HERE  FOR FREE AUDIO BREAKS.

2. Share the 5 minute breaks with others — either family, clients, coworkers, or friends. Post one of the stress breaks from the FREE  page in the break room at work — spread some seeds of stress management. CLICK HERE FOR FREE STRESS BREAK PRINT OUTS.

3. Read our one page sheet on how to make a simple yoga practice part of your stress management strategy for compassion fatigue.  CLICK HERE

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GreenTREE Yoga professional development trainings are available for Continuing Education Credits (CE) for nurses, social workers, classroom teachers, PE teachers, and yoga teachers.

Please visit the GreenTREE Yoga Professional Development page for information on our Compassion Fatigue workshops.

Comments on GreenTREE Yoga Professional Development for Teachers/Coaches (7-12)

“Very knowledgeable instructors…made it applicable to PE teachers and coaches.  I really liked that we experienced ourselves instead of just talking about it.” ~ A. Mills, Salt Lake City Teacher

“It was most helpful to have an introduction to yoga — the mind-body connection.  This was my first experience and now I realize the value of it. It was great! Thank you!”~  A.Roumpos, Salt Lake City PE teacher

“This helped me understand body movement and why it’s important to incorporate this into your programs.”       ~ R. Stubbs, Salt Lake City PE teacher

Comments from our PACE Summer Series at the University of Utah College of Social Work and the NASW professional development   series at the University of Utah College of Social Work

“I loved the integration of knowledge with practice.  I liked the references to so many resources.  I liked that the class was so relevant to the field and stayed on topic.” ~ Jennifer Jenkins.

“Well planned and well organized.  applicable to a wide variety of circumstances.  Nice balance of yoga and formal ‘bookwork’.”  ~ Alesa Van Dyke.
“I really appreciated learning and practicing specific ideas and techniques so that the knowledge would be applied — not just learned. The presenters were very knowledgeable in this field and provided empirical evidence for application of practices.  I love doing the yoga, it really helped me interalize the information… Jodi Mansfield
“I appreciated information and discussion on referring people to a yoga class. I especially appreciated doing yoga in the class.”  ~ Michael Olsen

“It was great to learn how yoga can be done with any mental or physical condition.  The person can adapt it to their situation and not feel left out because they can’t do it.”  ~ Marianne Cook