1. Compassion Resilience
Sue McKenzie
WISE and Rogers InHealth
Welcome.
Introduce self
Paired discussion will be used throughout.

2. Goals Define Wellness, Compassion, CF and CR
Explore experience of compassion fatigue
Introduce skills of compassion resilience

3. Why do we do what we do. How do we do what we do well
Why do we do what we do? How do we do what we do well? How do we let go of what we cannot do? How do we do well with others on a daily (consistent) basis?
Let’s get started by taking a step back to look at our underlying beliefs about human behavior.

4. Toolkit Outline Preface Content Sections Appendix Introduction
Implementation Guidance for School Leaders and Toolkit Facilitators
Content Sections
Rationale for the Compassion Resilience Focus and Approach – Leadership and Staff
What Are We Talking About?
Compassion Fatigue Awareness, Connection to Trauma, and Assessments
Systemic Drivers of Compassion Fatigue
Expectations from Self and Others
Compassionate Boundary Setting – Personal and Professional
Contract for Positive Staff Culture
Strategies – Mind
Strategies – Spirit
Strategies – Strength
Strategies - Heart
Compassionate Connections with Parents
Appendix
Foundational Beliefs about Behavior
Dealing with Significant Staff Disclosure or Crisis
Supporting Change Efforts of Others and Ourselves
Stress throughout the Career Cycle

5. How we got to this topic…

6. Observing the two mindsets:
Kids/adults/colleagues do well if they want to …
Manipulative
Just wants attention
Not motivated
Doesn’t care
Kids/adults/colleagues do well if they can …
Coping in the way they know how
Lack skills required
Something in their way
Together we can figure it out
The two mindsets break down to various interpretations of someone’s behavior and the path to change.

7. Avoidance, anger and apathy
Troubling ideas such as stigma and external behavior motivation (If you wanted to, you would)
self esteem
I am not good.
sense of efficacy
I am not able.
Whether it is a client or yourself, if your primary belief about behavior is based in motivation- when you cannot meet an expectation you would begin to see yourself as not… good or able.
What are a few examples from our family, work, community and national culture that support this belief?
Avoidance, anger and apathy
So, why try!
Feelings of Shame

8. Complications of Trauma
Prefrontal Lobes
Rational thoughts
What can I learn from this?
Limbic
Emotions
Am I loved?
Brain Stem
Survival instinct
Am I safe?
We know that one must feel safe and connected in order to open up to learning YET the impact of trauma forms, what at times can feel like strong barriers to the client accepting the offer of safety and positive regard.
I often tell teachers that if they are the type of teacher that revels in all the positive relationships they build with children due to their natural ability to connect- they may be the ones who have the toughest time with kids who comes from a place of trauma. They have come to define their strength by their relatively easy connectedness with students. And their sense of efficacy (ability) is greatly challenged and the supports they need are lacking. – as is true for the child presenting the challenge to the teacher… a perfect storm for compassion fatigue and decreased success for both teacher and student.

9. Section 2: What Are We Talking About? (A look at a section)

10. Compassion and Self-Compassion
Concern for the wellbeing of others. It requires the consciousness of others’ distress coupled with a desire to alleviate it.
Extending kindness to ourselves in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or our own general suffering.

11. Resilience
The ability to recover from tough challenges and traumatic events
To be able to feel optimistic in an imperfect world
Connection
Competence
Control
Resilience is the goal.

12. Building Our Compassion Resilience
The power to return to a position of empathy, strength, and hope after the daily witnessing of the challenges families face in our community and the realities of the workplace.

13. Section 3: Compassion Fatigue
Secondary trauma and burnout
Gradual lessening of compassion over time
Avoid trying to understand what people face
Become less effective in our roles
Life satisfaction decreases
What about your “role” challenges your ability to show up with a high level of compassion?
If I continue to lack the capacity to meet others’ expectations or the ones I have for myself because I think I should be able to “motivate” the person I serve to make the changes I expect them to be able to make, it is natural for me to back-up – become apathetic, avoidant, even angry. And we loose the joy of our work.
Compassion Fatigue can be summed up as the feelings of depression, sadness, exhaustion, anxiety and irritation that may be experienced by people in their work and/or personal life. We will be using compassion fatigue is an umbrella term for both burnout and secondary trauma.
Burnout refers to the exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress related to very high workload, non-supportive work environment, and/or feeling that our efforts make no difference.
Secondary Trauma (also known as secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma) can happen to us when we come to know the traumatically stressful events that the students we serve have experienced. While it is rare, some helpers experience some of the same symptoms of trauma as if the experience had happened to them. Those that are in a position to hear about trauma on a regular basis are particularly susceptible.
Let’s take a moment to hear from you. What about your work challenges your ability to show up with a high level of compassion? 13

14. Compassion Fatigue’s Path
Leave Profession
Zealot
We are committed, involved, and available, Ready to problem solve and to make a difference, We are willing to go the extra mile.
Compassion Resilience
Renewal vs Pathology
Irritability
Anger and cynicism, Diminished creativity, Sadness, Feeling helpless or hopeless
Leaving the profession, Physical and Mental illness, Chronic symptoms or Hardiness, Resiliency, Transformation
We do not want to dwell too long on compassion fatigue, yet it is clear that we need to understand what it looks like in order to address it early in a preventative manner.
Zombie
Withdrawal
Overwhelmed by complexity, Chronic exhaustion, Physical illness, Difficulty empathizing, Feeling numb to other’s pain, Absenteeism
A sense that you can’t ever do enough, Inflated sense of importance, Sleeplessness, Sense of persecution
(Cycle is from work of Eric Gentry, PhD 2012)

15. Important Reminder
Compassion fatigue is a NORMAL response to ABNORMAL circumstances. And, we can prevent and intervene early to lesson the impact.
For most many in helping professions, exposure to the traumatic experiences and reactions of others is an everyday occurrence. Because such exposure is a daily fact of our lives, we may be tempted to consider it “normal” and to consider our negative reactions to it “abnormal.”
In fact, while traumatic events and responses constitute everyday reality for many of us, our bodies and minds do not experience them as normal. It is abnormal, in human terms, to be exposed to others’ trauma and traumatic responses day after day, year after year. The resulting stress often exceeds the power of our existing coping mechanisms.
CF is, then, a normal response to abnormal circumstances. If you have experienced symptoms of CF and more specifically secondary traumatic stress, you are not alone, and you should not fault yourself. It is not your job to suffer in silence with these experiences.
The rest of our time together, we will be looking at processes for identifying CF/STS and mitigating its effects.

16. 3 Stages of Action to Reduce Compassion Fatigue
Stage 1: Knowledge
Stage 2: Recognition
Stage 3: Responding
So, what is the roadmap for an ongoing, long-term commitment to promote CF prevention, intervention, and mitigation.
ACS-NYU Children’s Trauma Training Institute

17. Compassion Fatigue: How are you doing?
Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL)
Compassion Satisfaction
Burnout
Secondary Trauma Stress
Discuss the handout they got when entering the room.

18. Section 4: System Drivers of Compassion Fatigue
What about the system in which you work and the systems that you and your clients interact, might add to your compassion fatigue? (Brainstorm)

19. Strategies to Build Compassion Resilience:
Section 5 Expectations - Realistic ones of yourself and others – What is enough and what can I hope for? Exposure to recovery
Section 6 Compassionate boundary setting
Section 7 Staff culture - connect with colleagues and others in community
Section 8-11 Self-care strategies – Mind, Spirit, Strength and Heart
Section 12 Connect with parents

20. A Break for our SPIRIT
Re-creative Activities for our Bodies and our Spirits
When do you feel most alive? What are you doing? What or who are you surrounded with?
When do you feel most like yourself?
Where is the artist in you? (Consider this definition: a person skilled at a particular task or occupation.)

21. Expectations What positive role do expectations play?
What impact has your unrealistic self-expectations had on your well-being?
What has the impact been of others’ unrealistic expectations of your capacity?
How do you assess if expectations are being set at a helpful aspirational level?

22. Expectations: Remind ourselves of the resilience in our families and colleagues

23. A Break for our MIND
From Unrealistic Expectations to Helpful Affirmations
Think of one unrealistic expectation that you have of yourself.
Think of one unrealistic expectation that someone has of you.
Take a moment and consider an affirmation for each of these that you can use when you feel the expectation coming into play.

24. Compassionate Boundaries

25. Once we have identified the behaviors and attitudes that best serve our goals, we can set compassionate boundaries to maximize the potential for you to live in that zone.

26. Tips for Setting Compassionate Boundaries
Know what you want to say “Yes” to in your life (values and priorities).
Discuss boundaries early! Structure is the safety net of chaos.
Just say it! Don’t make them guess. Reinforce by pointing out when they respect or violate your boundaries IN THE MOMENT.
Give explanations that are based on your values, specific, relevant to the other person, and offer shared solutions.

27. A Break for our STRENGTH (stress resilience)
Pausing to Create Boundaries Between our Experiences
Tapping In/Out – how can you use this in your personal or professional life?
Energizer Brain Breaks – what works for you?
Breathe video

28. Connect with colleagues and others in the community – create positive culture
What are my limitations (my role, skills, current capacity, etc.) to meet the person’s expressed desires/perceived needs?
What organizations or colleagues can offer services that I cannot?
What is my level of belief in the capacity of others on “my team?”
What do I need to do to increase
my knowledge of and belief in the
capacity of others?
The third area of strategies for building compassion resilience involves our connection to resources that are available to our clients that meet needs beyond the limitations of our role.
It is difficult for me to approach the complex realities of our clients lives with optimism if I am unaware of the multitude of resources that exist to address client needs that we cannot meet- whether due to the lack of successful engagement in the relationship, or needs that extend beyond what I can offer, I do best when I see that I am not THE answer to a person’s well-being.
These questions can be helpful for teams to address together or individuals to use to discern their level of connection to colleagues and other community services.

29. Care for Self
This is one model used to describe wellness. Another model we work with is the Compass Model from the work of Scott and Holly Stoner at Samaritan Wellness Foundation. When all areas are healthy and working together, you will see the positive influence they have on total health.

30. HEART MIND SPIRIT STRENGTH
Relationships: create and maintain healthy connections with others in your life
Emotions: express your emotions and receive others’ emotions in a healthy way
MIND
Work: get the most out of educational, volunteer, and employment opportunities
Organization: manage time, priorities, money, and belongings
SPIRIT
Core Values: develop a personal value system that supports your sense of meaning and purpose
Rest & Play: balance work and play to renew yourself
STRENGTH
Stress Resilience: deal positively with the challenges of life
Care for My Body: build healthy habits around your physical well-being, and to end unhealthy habits

31. Reversing Shame and Blame I care for myself & others
When I am Known, Included and Supported
I am able ✗
I am good
Compassion fatigue
Because, it is true for all of us that …
You can replace CF with stigma in this model. When someone living with mental health challenges …
I care for myself & others

32. Compassionate Connections With Parents

33. A Break for our HEART Commonalities
Step 1: “Just like me, this person is seeking happiness in his/her life.”
Step 2: “Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life.”
Step 3: “Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness and despair.”
Step 4: “Just like me, this person is seeking to fill his/her needs.”
Step 5: “Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

34. Next Steps Building My and My School’s Capacity for Compassion Resilience

35. Resilience clips found at: RogersInHealth.org
Thank-you for the relationships you build and the strategies you implement that improve the present and future lives of students, families and each other.
WISEwisconsin.org
Resilience clips found at: RogersInHealth.org