Animal professionals and compassion fatigue
Speaker: Sheilagh O’Sullivan, M.A.
The rate of suicide in the veterinary profession is almost twice that of the dental profession, “more than twice that of the medical profession, and 4 times the rate in the general population” (Suicide in veterinary medicine: Let’s talk about it, Stoewen, 2015). Animal care-givers, such as rescue workers, shelter workers, veterinary technicians and others typically have inadequate professional support, high client expectations, limited personal finances, a high possibility of client conflict and unmet client expectations, and, emotional exhaustion (compassion fatigue). Dealing with these stressors in the long-term is unhealthy at best, and deadly at worst.
Deep emotional and physical exhaustion is a hallmark of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout resulting in a shift in a caregiver’s, volunteer’s or helping professional’s sense of hope and optimism about the future and the value of their work in the home, as a volunteer, or professional. The level of fatigue a helper experiences can ebb and flow from one day to the next, and even very healthy helpers with optimal life/work balance and self-care strategies can experience a higher than normal level of fatigue when they are overloaded, are working with a lot of traumatic content, or find they are suddenly overwhelmed with situations that are chronically in crisis.
So what is compassion fatigue and what protective factors exist to help minimize its impact? Join us in this webinar and find out!
Includes a discussion of the following topics:
- Defining and understanding compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and burnout
- Symptom checklist
- Identifying triggers
- Evaluating self-care – handouts will be provided to assist participants in this evaluation
Available as a recording.
Cost: $25.00
CEU’s Available:
2 IAABC CEU’s
2 CCPDT CEU’s
2 ABCDT-L2 CEU’s
2 NADOI CEU’s
2 PPAB/PPG
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