Understanding and Preventing Compassion Fatigue

In this course, Dr. Carolyn Coker Ross (MD, MPH, CEDS, co-founder of the Institute for Antiracism and Equity) discusses compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, explaining the signs and symptoms of each. Compassion fatigue has its roots in childhood, so the risk factors and neuroscience of this condition are important to understand. The stages of compassion fatigue are outlined, along with notes on vicarious traumatisation. Resilience strategies, including learned optimism and the “Resilience 4 Ss”, are described, followed by suggestions on how we can prevent compassion fatigue. Ultimately as mental health professionals, we want to avoid re-traumatising others with what we have heard, so Dr. Coker Ross explains the requirements for this.