Addressing Compassion Fatigue Professional Development Workshop
If you have felt burned out and overwhelmed by the demands of educating young people while supporting their heightened emotional needs due to record high levels of mental health distress you have likely been experiencing compassion fatigue. Also known as vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue results from how we carry the burden of listening to, observing, or experiencing the effects of others’ trauma. This is especially common in workplaces where the people most impacted by trauma are also doing the emotional labor of holding space for others.
This workshop will create space to decompress for those experiencing compassion fatigue as well as identify concrete action items participants can take to address its institutional origins.
Participants will:
- explore the root causes of compassion fatigue
- identify triggers and develop an understanding of experiences with compassion fatigue
- engage in coping mechanisms and strategies to mitigate the effects of compassion fatigue
- plan for systemic changes that will create more support and address the root causes of compassion fatigue
Included in the training are four lessons you can use – or share with others – right away to ground yourself and identify the signs of compassion fatigue.
- Anxiety Grounding
- Future Focused Prompts
- 3 Steps to Self-Compassion
- Stressed Out
Compassion fatigue is the mental, physical and emotional exhaustion that comes from listening to, observing, or experiencing the effects of others’ distress or trauma. Often the burden of compassion fatigue is exacerbated by intersectionality and falls the heaviest on BIPOC and femme folks.
This workshop will introduce participants to self-care practices that center physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness and help individuals combat compassion fatigue. In addition, acknowledging that self-care is a bandaid, this training points out ways in which institutional or systemic changes can alleviate burdens on workers.
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Taught by our Innovation and Engagement Managers, National Program Directors, National Curriculum Director, and Chief Program Officer, this Addressing Compassion Fatigue Workshop is a two-hour interactive virtual workshop designed for teachers, program staff, counselors, and administrators who work with girls in grades 5-12.