What is Compassion Fatigue& how to Navigate it

Compassion fatigue - the basics

Compassion fatigue can affect a wide range of professions including frontline emergency responders. It is common among professionals that work in a helping or healing capacity.

Understanding the basic compassion fatigue definition is the first step towards learning how to combat it. This condition is defined as a type of stress that comes from either helping or wanting to help others who have been traumatised or are under significant emotional duress.

When someone is experiencing compassion fatigue, they still have the desire to help others. However, they are too exhausted or overwhelmed to provide the level of care that they are used to giving.

It stems from the fact that, as humans, we only have so much energy to give. When you focus too much of your energy on others without caring for yourself, you’ll eventually run yourself ragged. Constantly absorbing the emotional stress and trauma of others leads to your own traumatic stress.

Some compassion fatigue symptoms include:

Physical emotional exhaustion
Feelings of negativity and indifference
Self-isolation
Bottling up your emotions
Feelings of powerlessness or hopelessness
Feeling burdened by the suffering of others
Blaming others for their suffering
Feeling like you’re not doing your job well enough
Loss of pleasure in your work
Receiving complaints about your work performance or attitude
Poor self-care
Overeating
Excessive drug or alcohol use
Poor sleep or disturbed sleep pattern.

Burnout has similar symptoms on the surface, but when you dig deeper, the differences are clear. Burnout is typically caused by work-related stressors, such as long hours and administrative burdens. It often results in anger, cynicism, and feelings that no matter what you do, things won’t change.

It is often easier to prevent burnout than it is to avoid compassion fatigue.

Tips for Combatting Compassion Fatigue

Certain careers expose employees to compassion fatigue more than others. If you are a first responder there is a high chance that you will begin to suffer from this condition at some point in time. While you may not be able to avoid it, there are some things you can do to combat it.

First, step away if you can. If you have some annual leave, use it. Even a day or a few hours off will help you get the mental and physical rest you need. It is also important not to isolate yourself. Make sure you continue to connect with your family and friends. Talk on the phone, schedule a video call or meet someone you care about to chat while taking a walk.

Connecting with others will help you to de-stress and take your mind off work. If you can, consider sharing your feelings with a loved one, friend, or co-worker. Having a shoulder to lean on and someone to help you work on solutions may help you cope.

If none of these things help, or they are not an option for you, consider seeking professional help.

There are a range of AT and DPFEM wellbeing support services available. Click here for more information.

How Managers/Supervisors Can Help

As a Manager/Supervisor it is important to understand that compassion fatigue is a very real thing. The following steps can be taken by Managers/Supervisors to help staff cope with compassion fatigue:-

Acknowledge and make a commitment to address compassion fatigue in the workplace

By talking about compassion fatigue and opening the communication lines, staff who may be suffering from compassion fatigue will feel relief that they are not alone. It is your role to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help.

Encourage staff to monitor their own level of compassion fatigue by completing the Professional Quality of Life (PROQOL) scale. It is free, easy to use and measures two aspects of compassion fatigue: secondary traumatic stress and burnout. It is also a great way to encourage self-awareness and reflection, two qualities that are linked to reducing levels of compassion fatigue. The PROQOL acknowledges that compassion fatigue is not inevitable as it also measures compassion satisfaction (the positive feelings a person derives from the work they do). It is really about getting a good balance so that the feelings associated with compassion fatigue are balanced out by compassion satisfaction and knowing what to do when the balance is not conducive to wellbeing.

Measure levels of compassion fatigue in the workplace

Compassion fatigue may occur if your workplace has:-

High turnover of staff
High absenteeism
High levels of staff conflict
Low morale/productivity
High rate of workers compensation claims
Repeated exposure to critical and/or traumatic incidents such as next of kin notification, providing emotional support to victims impacted by crime, exposure to traumatic patient situations.

Reduce demands

If possible, decrease the frequency and time spent working on emotionally demanding tasks by:-

Rotating staff
Ensuring staff take regular breaks including the taking of annual leave
Listening to staff and providing regular feedback
Make sure staff have all the resources they need to do their jobs effectively
Encourage staff to recharge their batteries by participating in health and wellbeing initiatives such as Ready for Response, completing the MyPulse physical and mental health screens etc.

Managers/Supervisors are not immune to compassion fatigue so it is also important to look after yourself.

Finally, keep an eye out for signs of compassion fatigue and proactively reach out to any employee who appears to be suffering. Also, encourage your staff to provide each other with social support and respect.

Supporting Employees’ Mental Health

Mental health is important as it is something that affects all of us. We all have mental health on a spectrum from good mental health to poor mental health. How do you look after yours? Looking after our physical health has some basic steps such as eating well, getting regular exercise and maintaining good sleep hygiene. Looking after our mental health requires the same steps and also includes basics such as monitoring our stress levels, practicing mindfulness and being aware of our self-talk.

The MyPulse team is focussed on building awareness around mental health. For more information on mental health and wellbeing, check out other posts and resource available through the MyPulse website.

References:

drvanessarohlf.com.au/2017/02/01/what-management-needs-to-know-about-compassion-fatigue (20/8/2020)

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