Creative embodied group supervision for counsellors, therapists and allied health
Join a small group of peers to learn, explore, connect, express and reflect through shared discussion, music and creative arts experiences.
Other posts on this blog on compassion satisfaction, vicarious resilience and the upcoming post about the risks of connection, outline the inevitable impacts, both positive and negative, on workers in helping or caring roles.
‘Compassion fatigue’ refers to the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can arise as a result of engaging with the suffering of others for a prolonged period without adequate support.
The ensuing worker impairment and emotional depletion can result in workers shutting down and functioning on ‘autopilot’ due to a feeling that they have nothing left to give.
For clients, staff and organisations, the implications of ‘compassion fatigue’ can be enormous:
Compassion involves our ability to recognise the suffering of another without taking on that suffering as our own, combined with an authentic desire to alleviate the suffering of another.
There has recently been some much needed debate by leading specialists regarding the relevance and value of the term ‘compassion fatigue’.
Only a month ago, experts from TEND and the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium held a panel discussion titled 'A Shift in Perspective. Why it’s time to stop using "compassion fatigue”', suggesting that ‘empathic strain’ may be a more accurate term, for the following reasons:
The shift in terminology from ‘compassion fatigue’ to ‘empathic strain’ is important for several reasons:
After struggling with the crossover of terms in the area of secondary stress for some time, I welcome this shift in terminology.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them - you can let me know here.
For more information on empathic strain, and its cronies, vicarious trauma, burnout and secondary traumatic stress, check out part 4 of the series: 'The joy - pain spectrum in helping: risking connection' or sign up for the newsletter here.
Creative embodied group supervision for counsellors, therapists and allied health
Join a small group of peers to learn, explore, connect, express and reflect through shared discussion, music and creative arts experiences.
Header image: Javier Allegue Barros