Compassion Fatigue Resilience

Drawing on more than 48 years of experience working with compassionate people who were suffering, the authors discuss and illustrate the useful applications of the new Compassion Fatigue Resilience Model. Briefly reviewing the relevant research and theoretical literature, they point to the common findings that human service workers frequently forget about their own workplace comforts and are often unaware of the heavy price they pay in giving service to others. Several case studies illustrate what prompts efforts to build compassion fatigue resilience, and the life improvements that result when these efforts are successful. These improvements not only enhance the quality of human services by the workers; attention to their mental health needs leads to better worker health and morale, and sense of mutual support that extends their careers.