You chose to work in a helping profession because you care about helping others during their most difficult times. Maybe at one point, you needed outside help or you witnessed a close family member needing help, and this inspired you to dedicate your time, education, money, and energy to giving back professionally. It's a noble calling. Our world needs compassionate people like you more than ever but it's important you are aware of the risks of working in these fields. To the detriment of our communities, and our world, we are losing talented, experienced, compassionate, and innovative world changers in industries that we rely on when we are in need of help, often due to burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, depression, and isolation. There are many who have had helping professions negatively impact them deeply and some to the point where their burnout and mistreatment has caused them to not only leave their organizations, but their profession altogether. The result is these fields are losing highly qualified professionals because of something that can be prevented.
This short course is meant to start the conversation around compassion fatigue and to give you a boost to begin thinking about self-care differently. It's not another thing to add to your plate, it's about intentionally restoring your peace, living at your optimal health, and including you as a priority in your life. It's the ethical thing to do when you are responsible for helping others. I hope you enjoy and feel inspired to love yourself.