Compassion Fatigue in School Counseling

School counseling can take a serious toll on practitioners. After a busy week working with students, often under difficult circumstances or with complicated challenges, we can coast to a halt on the weekend deeply thankful for time to recharge. Under normal circumstances we reenter school Monday ready for another week of making important contributions to the lives of our students. What if, however, you wake up Monday morning feeling no better rested than when you arrived home on Friday? What if you find yourself increasingly affected by your client’s stress or the stories of trauma and loss that frequently come toward you? In those instances, an awareness of compassion fatigue may help you regain your previous ability to maintain balance and serve your students with optimal effectiveness.

A vortex that pulls you downward that you don’t know how to stop so you work harder and continue to give to others until you’re completely depleted..

In a definitive article on compassion fatigue , Pfifferling and Gilley (2000) described compassion fatigue as a “deep physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion accompanied by acute emotional pain” (p. 39).

Their self-assessment for compassion fatigued contains nine items:

• Personal concerns commonly intrude on my professional role.
• My colleagues seem to lack understanding.
• I find even small changes enormously draining.
• I can’t seem to recover quickly after association with trauma.
• Association with trauma affects me deeply.
• My patient’s stress affects me deeply.
• I have lost my sense of hopefulness.
• I feel vulnerable all the time.
• I feel overwhelmed by unfinished personal business.

While this isn’t a validated instrument, if four or more of these apply to you, it may be useful to evaluate your state of mind with regard to potential compassion fatigue.

Recovering from deeper levels compassion fatigue can take months but can be well-managed if you 1) spend quiet time alone including such therapeutic practices as meditation 2) recharge your batteries daily through exercise and spending time with family and friends and  3) have one focused, connected, and meaningful conversation each day. It may also help for you to work on this issue with another counselor who is familiar with compassion fatigue.

These lifestyle changes might appear hard to sustain at first but remember how much your clients , you, and your family and friends stand to gain if you can successfully restore balance to your life. If you are feeling any of the above signs why not take some preventative action. Make a self-care appointment with yourself and direct some of that compassion inward. – AC

Adam Clark is a school counselor at Yokohama International School in Yokohama, Japan. Find out more at http://whoisadamclark.com/who-is

Pfifferling, J., & Gilley, K. (2000). Overcoming compassion fatigue. Family Practice Management, 7(4), 39. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

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