Self-Care and Compassion Fatigue

Registration / Check-in: 7:45 am to 8:15 am
Session: 8:15 am to 4:00 pm

Beyond kale and pedicures: Strategies to reduce compassion fatigue and burnout

There are now over two decades of research proving that working in high stress, trauma-exposed professions such as education, community mental health, law enforcement and health care carries elements of risk to the care provider: compassion fatigue, secondary trauma and burnout can take a cumulative tolls on us as individuals and as teams. What can professionals do to protect themselves from the difficult stories that they work with on a regular basis, limited resources and high volume of work, while still remaining effective and compassionate?

This interactive, evidence-informed and trauma-informed presentation is suitable for novice and experienced participants alike. Using the most recent research in the field, it will explore assumptions about compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, the organizational and personal barriers that professionals face in their daily lives, and offers new and creative approaches to transforming these occupational hazards.

Participants will learn:

• Key Factors that increase risks of compassion fatigue, burnout and secondary trauma
• Early intervention strategies
• Practical strategies
• Workplace strategies: what works?

Speaker Bio: Francoise Mathieu

Compassion Fatigue Specialist and Co-Executive Director, TEND

Françoise is a Registered Psychotherapist and a compassion fatigue specialist. Her experience stems from over 20+ years as a mental health professional, working as a crisis counsellor and trauma specialist in university counselling, military, law enforcement and other community mental health environments. Françoise is co-executive director of TEND, whose aim is to offer consulting and training to helpers on topics related to secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, self-care, wellness and organizational health. Since 2001, Françoise has given hundreds of seminars on compassion fatigue and secondary trauma across North America to thousands of helping professionals in the fields of health care, child welfare, the criminal justice system and other similar high stress, trauma exposed professions. Françoise is the author of “The Compassion Fatigue Workbook” which was published by Routledge in 2012 as well as several articles and publications.