Addressing & Combatting Compassion Fatigue

As a community, we are supporting one another during a difficult time, one often marked by local and global crises that unfold at such an unforgiving pace we are unable to fully handle one event before gathering strength to confront the next. We as helping professionals are often called upon to support healing amidst instances of unimaginable violence, human loss, and grief. This often-cyclical nature can make finding time to reacclimate or find our own footing difficult. 

There are significant differences between the role of the individual instructor (being a trusted mentor for students), and the role of the institution (creating a well-resourced educational environment for learners and instructors) as we work together to promote a culture that offsets compassion fatigue. Robust administrative support, resourcing, and staffing are all foundational to practicing a healing-centered approach at the institutional level. They are also critical tools for assisting instructors in the practice of self-care, and implementing appropriate limits to offset the effects of compassion fatigue and avoid burnout.

When to Use

Sustainable work/life engagement, self-care, implementing compassionate boundaries, asking for support, self-reflection, avoiding burnout

 

How to Use

 Departmental/Unit:

  • OFFICIALLY DOCUMENT IMPACTS: Consider implementing a system for faculty to document adverse impacts. This is particularly important as we begin the recovery process from the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to account for ways faculty across all tracks shouldered an increased workload, had their projects and professional trajectories derailed, and faced unprecedented challenges and personal impacts, it is critical that we seek to make invisible labor visible, and look to value the changes that were made. 
  • NORMALIZE BREAKS & ENDORSE FLEXIBILITY: Consider what meaningful flexibility would look like as a means to promote pro-active wellness. Recognize that in times of heightened strain and community stress, we may not be afforded our normal periods of recovery—and without explicitly budgeting for periods of rest, we run the risk of the type of compounding exhaustion which leads to burnout. In this article from Ed Surge, Kevin McClure explores a few actions department leadership can take including: talking openly about burnout and prevention, proactively simplify department commitments and encourage staff to cut-back average workloads to pursue wellness, destigmatize flexibility and give people permission to take a break.

Individual:

  • PAUSE-RESET-NOURISH TOOLS (Cueller, et al. 2020): All of us face a variety of stresses daily. Gauging your level of distress is as important as practicing self-care strategies. The PRN framework is one such strategy and reminds us of the types of practices that help promote wellbeing and enhance resilience. You can Pause-Reset- Nourish to help replenish yourself when needed. These practices can help to reset and rebalance your nervous systems, and can be done frequently throughout each day in just a few minutes. Click here to download a PDF poster of the PRN tool.
  • COUNSELING SERVICES: All University of Denver employees are eligible for the Employee Assistance Program, which grants up to six free counseling sessions per year. Additional counseling services can be obtained through our Health and Counseling Center, as well as through the Trauma and Disaster Recovery Clinic or Professional Psychology Clinic. External counseling services are also available throughout the community, and can be found via the Counseling Center Referral Service’s (CCRS) comprehensive web-based platform.
  • CRISIS SERVICES FOR STUDENTS:  
    • SOS REFERAL TREE: When a student in distress has been identified, the Student Outreach and Support website provides a simplified overview of the University of Denver student support resources. 

Citations

Alvarez, L., Gentile-Mathew, A., Iturbe-LaGrave, V. (2021). Teaching Tools. Inclusive Teaching Practices, University of Denver Office of Teaching & Learning.

Cuellar, R., Rains, M., Hendricks, A., Hirsh-Wright, A., Valenti, S, Grosso, C., Louie, K. & Brymer M. (2020). Pause – Reset – Nourish (PRN)* to Promote Wellbeing: Use as Needed to Care for Your Wellness! Los Angeles, CA, and Durham, NC: National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.