Compassion Fatigue – Part 2

Watch the VLOG here!

Last week, I told you about compassion fatigue and I asked you,

“Are you burnt out?”

For those of you who are in caring professions such as, doctors, nurses, social workers, child protection workers, teachers, educational assistants; I could go on.  To the folks who are constantly giving so much of themselves: Are you burnt out?  Are you beginning to suspect the early signs of burnout?  Are you tired, are you anxious, are you worried, is it affecting your sleep, your appetite?  Are you not enjoying your job; wishing that you didn’t have to go in?  These are all some of the signs.

In fact, I have a resource I’d love to give you.

It’s a compassion fatigue tool where you can take a look at what are the signs of compassion satisfaction, and those signs of early onset compassion fatigue, right through to the signs of full-on compassion fatigue.

I want to offer you that resource; it’s actually a tool we reference in our workbook, “The Frog Factor.”   It’s a tool that I think you’ll find really valuable to be able to gauge (for you, or to be able to share with your colleagues) how well you’re doing – and this is a moving spectrum and a moving scale because you may always be at a different state.

I want to share a few strategies with you that you can use to further add to your resiliency toolkit.

Of course, the first one . . .

. . . is to actually use the checklist, that’s pretty self-explanatory. But the other piece is to really encourage others to have a dialogue about it.  How are we doing as a team, and what are the signs in our team that we may be compassion fatigued?  In particular, if you’re having a really stressful day, maybe there is a critical incident, maybe there’s a really difficult conversation that needs to happen, or you’re short-staffed, or experiencing really high volumes? That’s the time you really need to take a pause and pull out that checklist and use it to gauge how you’re coping through those difficult situations.

The other piece is, reconnect with your joys.

Nobody can do this but you.  Gauge things like: am I going to yoga (if yoga is your thing), or volleyball?  Am I attending my book club, taking time out to have wine with my girlfriends or my boyfriends? Am I enjoying the things in life that fill my cup?

Remember I was telling you in the last VLOG that you need to put your own oxygen mask on first before you can help others?  Imagine if you considered this; maybe it’s the least selfish thing you can do by doing those things that bring you joy to fill yourself back up before you go back out and provide support and service to others.

I encourage you to share this video with other caring professionals.

In fact, I’d even like to suggest you share with anybody who is in service. For example, if you are in retail or customer service – constantly providing yourself to be able to serve others – you could probably benefit from this as well, and from this resource that I have available for you!

I also want to encourage you to subscribe to this channel because I am committed to continually offering you tools and strategies so that you can fill yourself up; your own personal cup, and also your workplace’s so they are both as healthy and as productive as they can possibly be.  After all, we spend more hours working than anywhere else so why not make it positive, right?

Thank you so much for watching and for sharing with anyone you know would benefit from this video.

My name Sarah McVanel. Be well and be great.