Burnout and compassion fatigue can be experienced in all jobs, but is especially a risk for those in the helping professions (e.g. nursing, counseling, teaching, etc.) and first responders. Burnout is often characterized by a loss of a sense of self-efficacy, emotional detachment and exhaustion, cynicism, and decreased quality of work. Compassion fatigue can be a subset of burnout or be separate but includes a decrease in the ability to empathize with the suffering of those whom you are trying to help. Secondary traumatic stress often accompanies burnout when your job requires repeated exposure to images or descriptions of violent or disturbing material even when you yourself are not experiencing the violence. With the increase in violent imagery in the news and on social media, you can find yourself exposed even outside of work. It can leave you struggling with intrusive images, nightmares, hypervigilance, and avoidance after reading, hearing about or watching violent images.

With even one of these, jobs that may have inspired your passion before may come to seem unbearable over time. If you find yourself in the grip of all three, they can be debilitating to not just your professional life but also to your relationships and personal life.

If I work with you around burnout, compassion fatigue, or secondary trauma, I start by taking an inventory of the barriers and supports towards wellbeing that are present in your life. This involves assessing the various domains of your personal wellness and self-care practices, the rewards you find in your current job/profession, and the unique stressors (professional and personal) that you are facing. From there, we can work to identify changes that you may want to make.

As with all types of treatment I do, I find that insight and self-direction are the most important factors in lasting and effective change. Thus, I will seek to build your knowledge and awareness of your self and the way you relate to or cope with the different facets of your job. With a deeper understanding of the interplay of external demands and internal processes, you will be better equipped to make the kinds of changes that will work for you. That doesn’t mean I will shy away from suggesting practical tools that may be helpful, but they will not be the bulk of what we do.

If your job requires engagement with disturbing material, we can work on strategies for mourning, release, nervous system regulation, and processing to help you mitigate the impact that material will have on your day-to-day life. We can also look at ways to build up supports and bolster resilience to counterbalance the pain and suffering you have to deal with in the course of your work.

Individual sessions are $140. I am primarily private pay and do not accept any commercial insurances. If you have out-of-network benefits, I’m happy to provide receipts or superbills that you can submit to your insurance for reimbursement. I reserve a handful of slots for sliding scale or individuals on Medicaid.