Compassion Fatigue & Resiliency: Replenishing Your Spirit

Location:  Billerica, MA - Courtyard by Marriott, Billerica

You are driving to work and stop at a traffic light, musing about your difficult cases. Suddenly, you notice that there are decapitated heads rolling across the hood of your car! You gasp, you blink, and the heads are gone! Cars are honking, the light has turned, so you head for work-and it is only Tuesday! What does this mean? What should you do?

Working with troubled people and difficult situations can be depleting for caregivers - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually-affecting our work and our private lives. Understanding the causes of compassion fatigue and exploring strategies for creating resiliency can prevent burnout and enable us to renew our commitment to healing work.

Burnout, counter-transference and vicarious traumatization all have different dynamics and can jeopardize our abilities to enjoy our work and life. Come and use guided imagery, breathing techniques, hand games, healing environments, poetry, drawing, music, and movement therapies that will replenish our spirits and provide practical techniques for use in the workplace. Workshop participants will be able to:

• Identify the causes and dynamics of compassion fatigue-- burnout, counter-transference, and vicarious traumatization
• Explore the role of sensory deprivation and stimulation in coping with stress
• Use a wide variety of creative coping responses to client and workplace stress
• Create self-care strategies to address and prevent compassion fatigue and increase personal and professional resiliency

This workshop will be highly beneficial to mental health professionals, clinicians, health care workers, educators including teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, and paraprofessionals-anyone who works with people! Workshop format includes case studies, creative activities, discussion and multi-cultural approaches.

Instructor:

Virginia Fry, M.A., is the Director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Council of Vermont, adjunct faculty at four Vermont colleges, and consultant to three New Hampshire hospitals. She is Bereavement Coordinator for Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice and consults for the Vermont Department of Human Services. Ms. Fry also consults to schools and hospices throughout the United States and Germany. She trains nationally and in Germany, and is the author of the award-winning book, Part of Me Died Too, and the DVD A Video Essay on Teenage Grief. Ms. Fry is a humorous and dynamic presenter with a wealth of practical knowledge and personal experience.