Compassion Fatigue and Burnout: how to care for ourselves as helpers and healers while caring for others

Compassionate people working in the helping professions have always been extra susceptible to getting compassion fatigue or ultimately “burning out”. However, in recent times with all the extra stressors and barriers for people the chances of this happening has increased substantially. This highly interactive training will outline the factors that contribute to compassion fatigue, examine secondary trauma, and look at the dynamics and effects of burnout on quality service. Participants will do self-assessments on their current levels of compassion fatigue and burnout and reflect on it in dyads. Numerous strategies will be presented for how to combat compassion fatigue and burnout. Presenter will conduct an activity on how to use “The four A’s of Stress Reduction”. There will also be discussion and strategies presented at how participants can re-define “success” during stressful times without lowering standards.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will be able to define compassion fatigue and burnout
  • Participants will be able to identify 4-6 triggers to compassion fatigue and burnout
  • Participants will gain self-awareness on their own levels of compassion fatigue
  • Participants will learn and practice 7 strategies to reduce stress, compassion fatigue and burnout
  • Participants will be able to identify how to use strategies to reduce stress in such a way to maintain their own well-being and continue to strive for success with high standards


CYC Certification Competency Domain:  Professionalism

2 Class Hours

Created by

Noor Almaoui, LCSW
and
Frank Delano, LMSW

Noor is a biracial, trilingual world traveler and President of Universal Ethos Inc. The mission of Universal Ethos Inc. is to provide mental health therapy, supervision to social service providers, and/or professional trainings and consultation based off of core values of integrity, compassion, curiosity, and respect. Noor has had experience working directly with various vulnerable populations of all ages in multiple sectors of the social service field, some of which include providing behavioral therapy, clinical case management, crisis de-escalation, and long-term mental health therapy. Noor has also conducted trainings on a wide variety of topics including Cultural Appreciation, Supervising during COVID-19, Harm Reduction with Substance Use, Trauma Informed Care, and Burnout Prevention, in locations of California, New York, Canada, and Ireland.

Frank has over 40 years experience in a wide variety of roles in Child and Youth Care including Child Care Worker, Unit Director, and Senior Manager. He also spent 20 years as an adjunct faculty member in the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. He has published and trained extensively on supervision, leadership, cultural appreciation and a wide variety of other topics. Frank has presented at numerous National and International Conferences and agencies in 9 different countries.