Compassion Fatigue
Caring for others without depleting yourself
Description
You went into this work because you care, and that instinct is one of your greatest strengths. It also comes with a hidden cost. When your days are spent absorbing other people's pain, stress, and trauma, a little of it stays behind, and over time it can build up in ways you may not notice until your reserves are nearly gone. That slow erosion has a name: compassion fatigue.
This course helps you recognize it early, understand where it comes from, and build small, sustainable practices to protect against it. You will learn to spot the warning signs across your body, emotions, behaviors, and thinking, explore why the very empathy that makes you good at your job can also wear you down, and work through four practical areas that help refill the tank: curiosity, community, focus, and balance. Along the way you will do a little honest self-reflection, which can feel uncomfortable but is exactly where the real work begins.
The goal is not to care less. It is to care in a way that allows you to keep going, for the people you serve and for yourself.
Learning Objectives
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Recognize the physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive warning signs of compassion fatigue in yourself.
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Apply the two core recovery pathways, building mastery and building social support, to your own situation.
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Build a personal set of practices across curiosity, community, focus, and balance to grow your resilience.