Compassion Fatigue: Heal Thyself

Course Description

Compassion Fatigue: Heal Thyself explores how vicarious stress and trauma can impact a clinician’s emotional health. Consideration is given to the importance of being mindful of one’s personal well-being. If we are compromised with stress and experience “burn-out,” we potentially place our clients at risk of receiving less than quality support. Focus will be placed on identifying signs of secondary trauma and self-care strategies for stress reduction. Moreover this course explores sleep deprivation and proper sleep hygiene: understanding the relationship between our nutrition, diet, exercise, and circadian rhythms. Cognitive behavioral strategies will also be reviewed. Lastly, the efficacy of these integral therapy practices as a part of stress reduction for patients in clinical treatment will be considered in conjunction with other psychodynamic and behavioral modalities.

Course Title: Compassion Fatigue: Heal Thyself

Instructors: Trélan Nicole Holder, MS, LCSW & William Wright, NASM Certified Fitness Professional
Contact Hours/CEUs: 4-Hours

Format: Online Self-Study Course (Text-based Readings and Videos)

Process: Register and pay for course. Read content online. Pass online post-test and print certificate of completion. Registrants can access course for 2 years from date of registration.

Learning Objectives

• Define Compassion Fatigue also known as secondary trauma
• Identify the signs of “burn-out”
• Identify self-care strategies (mindfulness, meditation, breathing and progressive muscle relaxation)
• Recognize ways to draw healthy boundaries
• Identify ways to advocate for your professional and personal needs in the workplace
• Course will provide tools of mindfulness, meditation and relaxed breathing as ways to minimize negative impact of compassion fatigue.
• Identify the stages of sleep (i.e. REM and Non-REM cycles)
• Identify cognitive behavioral approaches to improve sleep
• Evaluate the relationship between sleep and mental health (i.e. depressive disorders)
• Evaluate how diet and exercise can affect sleep quality