FATIGUE IS REAL Y

ou just checked the clock and it only reads 10:47 a.m. You are thinking, “How am I going to make it through the day? I love being a helper but right now I could care less about helping. Is it me? It is them? Yes, it is probably them!” You may be reading this thinking “how does she know?”, but the truth is that many can identify with these thoughts. I have come to realize people are familiar with the physical and emotional symptoms of compassion fatigue, not knowing compassion fatigue is real. Feelings such as being tired, disengaged, believing you have symptoms associated with a cold/flu are all associated with compassion fatigue.

Marisa Nowitz, Director of School and Community Engagement for the Trauma and Grief Center at the Hackett Center of Mental Health defines self-care as “the ability to engage in helping others without sacrificing other important aspects of life”. The opposite of this practice is compassion fatigue; sacrificing important aspects of life while still trying to help others. At one time, compassion fatigue seemed to be focused on specific professions, however, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that anyone in the role of helping- caring for an ailing loved one, teaching your children at home, as well as teachers, medical professionals, mental health professionalswere susceptible. Additional risk factors include professionals who work with traumatized individuals, persons with their own unresolved trauma, as well as feeling isolated socially and professionally. Stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and emotional overwhelm are terms usedinterchangeably, but it is important to have a working definition of each.

According to Healthline.com “stress is a natural physical and mental reaction to life experiences”. Thisdefinition emphasizes stress is not always bad. Some stress builds our resiliency, such as exercising. Your muscles are stressed in the workout and strengthened during recovery. However, when stress prohibits you from pursuing wholeness in life, you should attend to it. Many factors contribute to stress including daily hassles, major life changes as well as life circumstances both within and outside of your control.

Burnout, another term closely related to compassion fatigue, is defined by Freudenberger as the “state of mental and physical exhaustion caused by one's professional life". Maslach and M.P. Leiter (2005) said burnout includes losing three things:

* Energy * Enthusiasm * Confidence

Based on the work of Figley, Tend Academy’s Compassion Fatigue (CF) refers to “the profound emotional and physical erosion that takes place when helpers are unable to refuel and regenerate”. This definition highlights even though compassion fatigue is associated with helping professions, you do not have to get paid for the work to be susceptible.

While the signs and symptoms of burnout and compassion fatigue can feel personal, there are general similarities in experience:

* Tired

* Feeling like you are coming down with something

* Loss of motivation

* Skipping work or the responsibility

* Actually wishing illnesses on yourself or a broken bone

* Forgetfulness

The PROQOL-5, Professional Quality of Life Measure, can help you determine your current level of compassion fatigue and/or compassion satisfaction. It is available in multiple language. Take it. See where you are. Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom and in all thy getting, get understanding. Here are steps you can take, a day at a time, to reduce compassion fatigue and regain satisfaction.

 Physical- Learn to recognize your body and its signals. Your body sends signals of what it needs, and it is important to be attuned to its various cues. This may mean laying down to rest well before you reach the point of exhaustion or feeding your body nourishing foods.

 Mental- Do your A,B,Cs as explained by cognitive behavioral therapy. Our feelings and behaviors (or C, consequences) are impacted by our beliefs (B= beliefs), more so than the events occurring in life (A=activating events). Actively examining our thoughts to determine their truthfulness can positively impact our feelings and behaviors.

 Professional- Ask for what you need and have the confidence to say what you do not need. If you have seven back to back meetings, avoid scheduling all the tasks from those meetings in the same day. Work to pace the tasks and activities instead. Remember, you are a human-being, not a human-doing.

 Emotional- Attend to your flame when it’s flickering. Priti Avantsa, coordinator of Mental Health/Social Work Services for Fort Bend ISD, says that our flames can wane at times, meaning emotionally we can start to feel drained. She recommends tending to that feeling when you first notice it rather than allowing your flame to go out. One helpful way to tend your flame is to put voice to your current experience. Allowing your stories to have a place to live outside your body can be restorative. Consider talking with a friend, recording a voice memo, or journaling.

 Personal- Give yourself permission to care about yourself before you care about others. In the book Quiet, author Susan Cain encourages readers to find a “restorative niche”. My favorite restorative niche occurs at the car wash. As the wheel tracks navigate my vehicle through the wash, I turn the radio off, lean my seat back, close my eyes, and peacefully listen to the water cascade over the windows and roof. This is sometimes the best few minutes of my day.

 Spiritual- Pour to be refilled. God has an amazing way of refilling us when we pour into the lives and assignments He gives. If compassion fatigue arrives, ask, “God, am I pouring into the things and people you want right now?”

Compassion satisfaction is born out of pleasure in helping others and we can increase our resilience when we witness transformation in the lives of others as they overcome adversity. The key is to remember that you, too, are included in this group, both needing help from time to time and being a witness for others with your overcoming testimony. Whenever someone struggling with compassion fatigue says, “I’m trying to keep going because I care about people”, I kindly remind them, “YOU are people, too.” You deserve compassion, too. Kuykendall-Rogers, V. (2019). Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Signs, Intervention and Prevention.

Nowitz, M. (2021). The Cost of Caring: Supporting the Supporters. The Hackett Center for Mental Health

What is Compassion Fatigue? (2023, March 31). Retrieved from https://www.tendacademy.ca/what-is-compassion-fatigue/ The Effects of Stress on Your Body. (2023, March 31). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body

Carlete Metoyer has been a counselor for 14 years and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Texas, a Texas Professional School Counselor, and a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional. She has experience in education at the secondary, district administration as well as collegiate level. She has also worked in the private sector and healthcare. Carlete is the practice owner and provider of CSM Counseling Solutions, where she focuses on reducing the stigma associated with seeking mental health services while helping clients achieve wholeness in their lives. She is also the host of the Seen, Heard, Whole Podcast.