{"id":9067,"date":"2013-05-23T21:32:35","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T21:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=9067"},"modified":"2019-01-28T04:27:09","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T04:27:09","slug":"compassion-fatigue-caring-without-losing-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/featured\/compassion-fatigue-caring-without-losing-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Compassion Fatigue &#8211; Caring without Losing your Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Every job has its hazards.<\/strong> \u00a0Some are pretty obvious; the danger of being a <\/span>firefighter<span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"> or working the high steel but for vocations in the helping industries the risks can often be less apparent. \u00a0There is a real danger of <strong>Compassion Fatigue<\/strong> for those who spend time caring for people. \u00a0These include physicians, nurses, counselors, therapist, teachers and most certainly pastors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Working with people in a multitude of forms of distress can have\u00a0a significant impact\u00a0on our personal lives. \u00a0<strong>Hearing about the challenges, pain, <\/strong><\/span><strong>and<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong> struggle of others is akin to experiencing that trauma ourselves<\/strong>. \u00a0While many of us are empathetic by nature and gifting, our greatest gift can also be the place of our greatest pain when we are continually at risk of \u201cpicking-up\u201d the suffering of others. \u00a0This\u00a0phenomenon is called <strong>transference<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">You may have seen a colleague or experienced yourself; a constant sense of walking in a fog, disconnected from what is going on around you. \u00a0A person may feel disconnected from other people, and they may experience feelings of anxiety before meeting with a client, patient or church member. \u00a0It is not uncommon to experience feelings of anger, a sense of being overwhelmed, sleeplessness, nightmares, feelings of despair and powerlessness. \u00a0In extreme cases, some experiencing Compassion Fatigue may experience physical symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Many find themselves find themselves <\/span>shut<span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"> off emotionally, they become hard-hearted and seemingly uncaring, calloused and flippant but often these are protection mechanisms because they are so often overwhelmed they cannot deal with this stress anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><a title=\"Pastor Care\" href=\"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/coaching\/care-for-pastors-leaders\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5610\" style=\"margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; border: 2px solid black;\" src=\"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Pastorcare.jpg\" alt=\"Pastorcare\" width=\"450\" height=\"70\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iamsignificantca.lightningbasecdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Pastorcare.jpg 450w, https:\/\/iamsignificantca.lightningbasecdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Pastorcare-300x46.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Here are 6 Things you can do to avoid Compassion Fatigue.<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Address your feelings<\/strong> in healthy ways. By being more self-aware we can begin to distinguish what are our issues and those of others. \u00a0Also, we can learn to process our feelings about the problems of others in healthy deliberate ways.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Don\u2019t Spiritualize it<\/strong> &#8211; Deal with cause and symptoms together. \u00a0There are some very effective ways to manage stress, and it is a good idea to deal with the root cause of stress.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Responsibility<\/strong>. \u00a0There is only one Saviour, and you are not Him! We must learn not to take on the responsibility for things we don\u2019t have the power to change. \u00a0Working with people, we must not take that responsibility from them. \u00a0Yes, we can equip and encourage them to do so for themselves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Seek meaningful reminders of life outside of ministry<\/strong> like pictures of family, art, music, nature, an unrelated hobby. This can be a challenge in church because it is so integrated with so many aspects of our life and makes this all the more important.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>A faithful, forgiving friend.<\/strong> Find a friend who you can be honest with. \u00a0Who is equipped to support you in your ministry with prayer, encouragement, healthy, relational accountability and those who you can share your inner-life<\/span>?<span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"> \u00a0I know for many pastors this may be a pretty tall order. \u00a0Many, many pastors do not have close, personal friends that they feel they can be safe with. \u00a0If this is the case, it is wise to seek a qualified, experienced coach or spiritual director and meet with them regularly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Care for your whole self<\/strong>. \u00a0We are whole people: body, mind, <\/span>and<span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"> spirit. As such we need to be deliberate to tend to our self-care. \u00a0A few practical suggestions:<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table class=\"aligncenter\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"10\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Exercise<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Eat well<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Get adequate rest<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Take regular vacations (Church retreats or conferences don\u2019t count!)<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Establish and maintain healthy boundaries<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Practice being thankful<\/span><\/em><\/td>\n<td><em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Sing (loud) in the car<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Pray, meditate regularly<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Read the Scriptures for enjoyment and comfort<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Practice silence for 20 minutes per day<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Enjoy something beautiful &#8211; music, art, poetry, nature<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">&#8211; Laugh often and laugh hard<\/span><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em id=\"__mceDel\" style=\"text-align: center;\">________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n<p>source:<a title=\"Psychology Today - Compassion Fatigue\" href=\"http:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/blog\/somatic-psychology\/201207\/compassion-fatigue\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> http:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/blog\/somatic-psychology\/201207\/compassion-fatigue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every job has its hazards. \u00a0Some are pretty obvious; the danger of being a firefighter or working the high steel but for vocations in the helping industries the risks can often be less apparent. \u00a0There is a real danger of Compassion Fatigue for those who spend time caring for people. \u00a0These include physicians, nurses, counselors,&#8230;","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,32],"tags":[147,241,406,407,436,452],"class_list":["post-9067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-significant-sustenance","tag-devotional-life","tag-healing-leaders","tag-pastor-burnout","tag-pastor-care","tag-read-the-bible-for-pastors","tag-restoring-fallen-leaders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}