To tend to the needs of others, you need to first focus on your own well-being. Compassion fatigue and burnout are very real ailments that can negatively impact your best-intentioned efforts to be helpful. Some preventive measures to consider include…
- Maintaining a balanced lifestyle that includes boundaries and limit-setting
- Getting support and help when you need it
- Having plans in place for coping with tough issues and incidents
- Getting adequate training
- Taking stock of your own healing and letting yourself experience the necessary spectrum of emotions
- Replenishing yourself
- Nurturing social relationships outside of work and school
- Getting involved in positive initiatives
- Maintaining proper sleep, nutrition and exercise habits
- Connecting with nature
- Expressing yourself creatively
- Developing a segment of your life where you take as well as give
- Meditating or engaging in spiritual practices
- Taking time off to recharge
- Being honest with yourself about your strengths and limitations
- Maintaining a sense of humor — even during difficult and stressful times
- Working in a positive, supportive and team-oriented environment
- Creating community
- Scheduling five minutes each morning for a self-check-in to assess your tensions and worries
- Practicing self-compassion
- Embracing compassion satisfaction, where you remember to focus on the wins involved with helping others
Sources: Compassion Fatigue: A Potential Consequence of Working with Traumatized People by Brenda Ingram, CALCASA Leadership Conference, 2005; Forbes WomensMedia, 12/10/21
For more from this in-service session – Avoid Burnout: Healthy Ways to Handle Emotional Labor and Protect Your Well-Being – and nine other staff development sessions, please check out our NEW 60-Minute In-Service and Staff Development Sessions binder.
