Simple Remedies for Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
For those in helping professions or providing care for a family member or friend, being a caregiver is a hazardous occupation that some 43.5 million Americans take on. Sadly, caregivers are at risk for more serious health problems than people who don’t have such responsibilities.
They are also at risk for burnout and compassion fatigue, notes Sheila Collins, Ph.D., and Christine Gautreaux, MSW, coauthors of Stillpoint: A Self-Care Playbook for Caregivers to Find Ease and Time to Breathe, and Reclaim Joy (Earth Springs Press).
An updated edition of a previously published book, Stillpoint offers stories, whimsical songs, poems, quizzes, meditations and affirmations to aid professional and family caregivers alike in unlearning self-defeating habits and changing mindsets. A stillpoint refers to a person’s creative somatic center, the body as perceived from the inside.
Says Collins, “Self-care continues to be all but neglected in the professional programs that train people in helping careers and is an essential skill for caregivers to master for their own health.”
Collins and Gautreaux can answer such questions as:
- What makes self-care so hard for caregivers?
- Why is caregiving so dangerous?
- What are some rituals that caregivers will find helpful?
- What is healthy anger and how is it expressed?
- What are some interesting trends in caregiving?
