This past weekend I was able to catch up with an old friend and fellow social worker. She has been in the child protection field for many years and I am continued to be amazed that she does that difficult work every day!
Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Stress
When I first entered my Bachelor of Social Work program I was told that the majority of us would end up in child protection. I promised myself that day that it would never happen to me. My background in the justice department gave me an insight as to what child protection workers were faced with everyday and I knew that type of work would be very very difficult. Having said that, many friends/classmates had their turn and over the years I have heard many stories about how various organizations work – the trend tends to be too many needs and not enough resources.
There are certain variables that make us more vulnerable to developing Compassion Fatigue. Continuously increasing needs and diminished resources is definitely one of them. Do you work in an organization where your responsibilities increase yet your supports stay the same or actually decrease? Do you struggle to find community resources to support your clients? One of the most difficult parts of this struggle is that workers are often left with the feeling that they know they could do more for their clients if they just had more time/support/programs/resources available. Going home at the end of the day (often way past a regular work hour day) knowing that you did what you could, but that it likely won’t be enough, or not as much as you’re fully capable of, on a regular basis, can cause significant stress and emotional exhaustion. This is one of the prime factors that makes us vulnerable to the development of Compassion Fatigue.
In some cases people get lucky and have great supervisors and co-workers who can help alleviate some of the burden by being supportive and reminding each other about all the good work they are doing each day. Great supervisors will help workers maintain awareness of their own boundaries and self-care and support them in striving for personal and professional balance.
If you are in one of these difficult situations and do not have good support at work you can seek it elsewhere. You can choose to seek out your own counsellor who may be able to help you identify any thought processes or self-defeating beliefs that are preventing you from keeping your boundaries and self-care in check. You can choose to find a Compassion Fatigue Specialist and learn as much as you can about the occupational hazards of being a Helping Professional as well as how to thrive both personally and professionally. Often helping professionals are givers and struggle with receiving support from others AND for themselves, if so, you will benefit from exploring this. You need to identify and give priority to your needs in order to give your best to others.
As helping professionals we know that usually the need is greater than the resources available for the people we work with – how do you manage that struggle?