top of page

Burnout &
Compassion Fatigue

You got into your job as a helping professional or educator because you were passionate about helping others. It can feel confusing when that career no longer brings you any joy, and the job that you used to love, you now dread going into each day. It can be isolating when you feel like everyone else around you is handling the stress at work with no problem. You try to talk to friends or family or your partner about how you're feeling and you're met with “just take a day off”, but you know it’s so much deeper than that. Your health and well-being are suffering. Your relationships are suffering. It may now be to the point that you are so exhausted and depleted that you are considering changing professions, but feel shame and worry about being judged by others for making the choice to leave. If any of this resonates with you, you may be experiencing burnout and/or compassion fatigue.

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burnout is a general stress or exhaustion due to one's work or place of work, while compassion fatigue involves negative impacts to one's emotional, mental, and physical health stemming from the helping of others who are experiencing pain and trauma, often as part of one's job. Both, but especially compassion fatigue, are common among professions such as healthcare, mental health, caregiving, education, and other similar areas. Some signs of burnout/compassion fatigue can include:

​​​​​​

  • Physical symptoms such as headaches​, body aches, pain, etc.

  • Fatigue​

  • Difficulty sleeping

  • Exhaustion

  • Hopelessness

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Irritability

  • Relationship issues

  • Negative feelings toward work, life, and others

​

Erica is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional (CCFP) and has been trained to work with individuals who are experiencing burnout and/or compassion fatigue due to their job as helping professionals or educators. ​Erica can support you in this experience in the following ways:

​

  • Learn coping skills to help you manage stress and navigate the workday

  • Learn how to incorporate self-care into your life

  • Explore how your work experience may be negatively impacting your health and relationships

  • Learn ways to incorporate joy and gratitude back into your work

​

“I had never been told that empathy is a finite resource. You can run out. As a normal, psychological response, you cannot give of yourself again and again and again without replenishing.”

​

                                                        -Emmett Fitzgerald

Woman with Laptop
bottom of page