An interview with Patricia Smith of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project
Compassion Fatigue is a condition that afflicts many people who are working or volunteering in the animal care field. If gone untreated, it can have detrimental effects on those afflicted by it. Sadly, many of those who have this condition may not realize that there is an actual name for it, and that it can be treated. They may feel that it is just a realm in which they are living as a result of doing the work that they do, without any commonalities shared by others in their field.
The point of my work is to show other animal rescue workers that there is a comminality, and that by hearing experiences from others in the field, it may resonate in a way that can help begin the healing process. A way for those who are feeling hopeless, depressed, and lost, to see that they are not alone.
Patricia Smith is the Founder and Director of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project©. The mission of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project© is, “To promote an awareness and understanding of Compassion Fatigue and its effect on caregivers.” Patricia is a certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist with more than 20 years of training experience. She writes, speaks and facilitates workshops in service of those who care for others in all caregiving professions. She took the time to answer some questions for Confessions, to explain Compassion Fatigue, and to offer guidance to those who feel they may be suffering from it, and those who want to ensure that they don’t.
Confessions of a Euthanasia Technician: What inspired you to take this specific direction with your work?
Patricia Smith: In 2002, I was hired as the training and development manager for Humane Society Silicon Valley. My first project was a shelter-wide compassion fatigue training. I had never heard the term “compassion fatigue,” so I was very interested to find out more about it. What I learned changed my life as I realized more and more I suffered from it for many years. The shelter-wide project was very successful and when American Humane asked me to come onboard as a compassion fatigue consultant, I left the shelter and traveled for a year presenting compassion fatigue workshops. It didn’t take long to see how wide-spread this distressing syndrome was among caregivers. Soon, I was branching out to all helping professions. Along the way, I started applying authentic, sustainable self-care practices to my own life and saw my symptoms decrease dramatically. When this started to happen, I realized I had something to share. My son created the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project (CFAP) website for me, and the rest is history. We now receive 50,000 hits a month from caregivers all over the world wanting to know about compassion fatigue. This work is the most satisfying work I’ve ever done.
CET: What is Compassion Fatigue?
PS: Compassion Fatigue is a secondary traumatic stress disorder. The display of symptoms is the natural consequence of stress resulting from caring for and helping traumatized or suffering people or animals. Compassion fatigue is a set of symptoms, not a disease.
CET: What are some common symptoms of Compassion Fatigue?
PS: The set of specific compassion fatigue symptoms include:
o Bottled up emotions
o Impulse to rescue anyone (including animals) in need
o Isolation from others
o Sadness, apathy
o Often feels the need to voice excessive complaints about co-workers or management
o Lack of interest in self-care practices
o Recurring nightmares, flashbacks
o Persistent physical ailments
o Prone to accidents
CET: Do you find certain types of people, or certain predispositions, are more susceptible to develop compassion fatigue?
PS: Helpers in all professions are at-risk for compassion fatigue. There are many things contributing to developing compassion fatigue – the main one being unresolved past trauma and pain. Dysfunction within the family unit can create trauma and suffering for developing children. We all survive dysfunction by playing different roles. Some become peacekeepers; others become caregivers. While others choose to just check out and withdraw from the drama. As we develop and grow, if we don’t come to terms with the trauma we experienced during our formative years, we learn to deal with the inner pain by “stuffing” the difficult emotions or attempt to “deaden” the pain with drugs, alcohol, food, tobacco or other unhealthy addictions. As a result, the trauma and pain remain unresolved. It is within this unresolved pain and suffering that compassion fatigue takes hold.
CET: Tell us a little bit about the concept of “Self Care” and how it pertains to prevention and treatment of compassion fatigue?
PS: Those of us who suffer the ill-effects of compassion fatigue are most likely “other-directed,” which means we put the needs of others before our own needs. This is something we learned at a very early age due to lack of healthy role modeling by the adults in our lives. When required to become adults at a very young age, we develop an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. When this pattern takes hold, the notion of “self-care” isn’t present. Since we are “other-directed,” we fill the needs of others. This unhealthy pattern leads to a lack of applying daily self-care practices. Eventually, this lack of devotion to our own lives leads to anything from money/debt problems to health problems.
CET: I know that Compassion Fatigue can present itself in many different caregiving professions. Tell us specifically about Compassion Fatigue as you have witnessed it in the animal care field?
PS: I have the upmost respect for those who work in animal welfare. Society’s disregard for caring for and protecting animals makes this field, in my estimation, one that is fraught with compassion fatigue. So many of us enter the profession thinking we can make a difference only to find the challenges are insurmountable. We enter the field because we love animals and, ultimately, euthanize what we love most – sometimes due to a simple lack of space. In Tami L. Harbolt’s landmark book, “Bridging the Bond: The Cultural Construction of the Shelter Pet,” the author makes this observation:
“My personal experiences working in an animal shelter for the past several years have led me to believe that people are drawn to sheltering work out of more than simply a desire to help animals. Many of the people I met in this community had experienced various forms of oppression, either in a familial, societal, or biological way. This experience of oppression led many of these workers and volunteers to develop a heightened empathy for animals as victims, based on a perceived experience of shared oppression and suffering. I will suggest in this book that people are drawn to animal shelter and welfare work because it is highly dramatic, intense, and characterized by joyful highs and overwhelming setbacks. And it satisfied some need in people, not only to control their social environments, but also to rearrange their legacies of disenfranchisement.”
Sadly, my years of working in animal welfare have led me to believe this is true.
CET: One of the pieces of advice that your organization gives to facilitate the healing process is “Choose your battles.” Can you expand upon the concept of “choosing your battles?”
PS: If, in our formative years, we parented the adults in our lives, we never learned the concept of personal boundaries. We became hyper-focused on others in order to fill their needs as they arose. We became so enmeshed in the dramas created by others that we never were able to keep our boundaries in check. In other words, we never learned where we started and others left off. Everything melded together in order to survive our unhealthy environments. As we aged, this lack of personal boundaries led to the inability to make good strong decisions. And also an inability to understand we have limited resources such as time and energy. Healthy decision-making is a skill. In a field such as animal welfare, the challenges are overwhelming. Those of us at-risk for compassion fatigue tend to think we can attack all of the problems – all of the time. The first step in regaining our health is an awareness that we do have limits- we can only do so much. Looking at the big picture in a healthy way, we recognize our greatest strengths and talents, and make the decision to choose which “battle” fits our resources. Once we are able to put our energies into making a difference in one area, we start to feel empowered and successful. Soon, we begin providing care from a place of abundance rather than a place of constant depletion – which is compassion fatigue. There was a study done that tells us if we DO ONE THING (DOT) we will have a 93% success rate. If we DO TWO THINGS – that success rate drops to 53%. That is amazing information! Choose one battle and our chances of success are very good. And the best part is our little animal friends will benefit.
CET: A lot of animal care professionals find themselves in a situation where they are far progressed in the condition, and not at a point where they can even pin point what, if anything, is “wrong”. Perhaps they are at the point where they are feeling completely lost in despair, hopelessness and depression: what do you believe is the first critical step in beginning their recovery and restoring balance in their lives?
PS: It is so very sad to see this happen in well-meaning, caring helpers. I don’t think we can experience compassion fatigue without sensing something is terribly wrong. At least that has been my personal and professional experience. Unfortunately, the bottom line is this: When someone is suffering from the symptoms of compassion fatigue to the point where they are basically not functioning, they need professional help. This often means removing themselves from the caregiving profession and, somehow, taking time to recover with the help of a mental health professional. I receive emails from many people in the situation you have explained– and they instinctively know if they don’t remove themselves from the “front line” they are not going to survive. Many change professions; many stay in the profession, but remove themselves from the trenches. Actually, that is what I finally had to do. I jumped from the proverbial frying pan into the fire when I left animal welfare work to work with terminally ill children. When I left that job, I was so compassion fatigued I was hardly functioning. Now, I work in health care, but I’m not in the hospitals. I work in the corporate office where I do public relations. I feel I am still a “helper,” but I protect myself from the trauma and drama I experienced in my previous jobs.
CET: How can someone who may be fairly new to these types of high-risk for Compassion Fatigue protect themselves from this condition?
PS: Three ways: education, education, education. When I found out about compassion fatigue, I felt such a strong motivation to tell others what I had learned. That is how the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project started – I felt an overwhelming need to educate others as to what I had learned. The information changed my life and I wanted others to know there was a way out of the quagmire. There was hope and a healthy, fulfilling life ahead. There are so many wonderful people now who are doing this work like Dr. Beth Hudnall Stamm who created the Professional Quality of Life Compassion Fatigue Self-Test (www.proqol.org). This measurement is the best way for us to monitor our progress in overcoming and managing compassion fatigue. I take the test several times a year to be sure I’m still on target. Unfortunately, compassion fatigue never goes away. It always lies dormant and if we’re not vigilant about our self-care practices, the symptoms will creep back into our lives. It has happened to me many times, and when it does, I reaffirm my commitment to myself to get right back on track with my self-care plan. It works every time. Dr. Beth and I offer all of our website materials free of charge to anyone who wants to help others. All we ask is that you give us credit!
CET: And, of course, we have to ask! Do you share your life with any fuzzy animal companions?
PS: Oh yes. The love of my life is Mitchel, a wirehair fox terrier. I adopted him from the shelter when I worked there. My plan was to save his life when, indeed, he ultimately saved mine. I have attached a picture of my little love.
