Compassion Fatigue in the Service of Children Exposed to Violence: Making Sure Your Mask is Secure Before Helping Others Invited keynote at the Defending Childhood Conference, Cleveland, Ohio September 22, 2011 Charles R. Figley, PhD Tulane University the Paul Henry Kurzweg, MD Distinguished Chair in Disaster Mental Health, Tulane University
Taking a deep breath The next hour is about you and your welfare Discussion about life in the trenches and what helps and does not help in your own thriving. First, what are your adversities that affect the quality of your human services? Roadmap to thriving and human development
Building Blocks to Thriving and Human Development 1. Thriving as a human service professional means displaying indicators of life satisfaction, effectiveness in all critical life roles, and correlated with measures of human development
Building Blocks to Thriving and Human Development 2. Resilience is the ability to cope effectively and adapt in the face of loss, hardship or adversity (Block and Kremen, 1996). 3. Resilient people spring back quicker than others 4. Two categories of resilience: Trait and State. 5. The above predict Self Care a. that determines the level of thriving b. which determines the learning orientation. 6. Resilience and learning are spectrum variables a. fear-based learning versus the other extreme of b. strength-based learning
Figure 1. Resilience, Self Care, Thriving, i and Human Development STRENGTH-BASED LEARNING HIGH THRIVING TRAIT RESILIENCE STATE RESILIENCE SELFCARE THRIVING LEVEL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT LOW THRIVING FEAR-BASED LEARNING Source: Figley, C. R.
TRAIT Resilience Recent study confirmed the attributes of high trait resilience neurologically: Emotional Optimism Openness to new experiences High life satisfaction
Emotional Flexibility The primary component of trait resilience Adapt with little upset High self regulation efficiency i
STATE Resilience Twenty-five years of research on state resilience, starting with studies of resilient children. State t resilience is the actions both learned and inherited that effectively managed adversity. Actions most critical are social skills and problem-solving strategies 10 factors are associated with State Resilience
Accounting for and Building Resilience among Caregivers Preparation Delivery Consequences Outcome EXPOSURE TO CLIENTS SELF CARE TRAIT RESILIENCE EMPATHIC ABILITY EMPATHIC RESPONSE COMPASSION STRESS STATE RESILIENCE LEVEL LEVEL OF INTEREST SATIS- FACTION TRAUMA EXPOSURE Shared Trauma Resilience Model
Figure 1. Resilience, Self Care, Thriving, i and Human Development STRENGTH-BASED LEARNING HIGH THRIVING TRAIT RESILIENCE STATE RESILIENCE SELFCARE THRIVING LEVEL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT LOW THRIVING FEAR-BASED LEARNING Source: Figley, C. R.
Self Care includes Self compassion Self regulation Planning Discipline Empathic Discernment
Thriving associated with Human development level Learning styles based on level of thriving High thriving i = Strength-based th learning Low thriving = Fear-based learning
The Adversity of Trauma The following model guides our research on combat medic resilience The last model brings it all together regarding what we know about what causes PTSD: Traumatic Stress Injuries four types of injury that require specialized treatment.
TRAIT RESILIENCE FACTORS Intelligence Trait Resilience (ER-89) Stress Adaptation Competence Self Confidence Adversities Individual id l Demands Unit Demands Environmental Demands Family Demands Trauma-RELATED STRESS INJURIES AND RESILIENCES Physical Fatigue Injury and Resilience Grief Injury and Resilience Belief Injury and Resilience Trauma Injury and Resilience State Resilience Factors Orientation and Training Trust in the Unit Traumatic Unit Cohesion Sense of Humor and Stress reducing Competencies STRESS REACTIONS Biological Markers Psychological Markers Social Relationship Markers Behavioral Markers Spiritual Markers 14 ) (c) Figley Institute (2010)
Conclusion Take the attached tests and do something about what you find. You deserve the attention you give your clients times ten. Be good to yourself and, as a result, you are good for your clients.
Contact information: Tulane University Graduate School of Social Work (Associated Dean for Research) Figley@Tulane.Edu 504-862-3473 Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy (Associate Director for Graduate Programs)