Professional Self Care – Preventing Empathic Distress (Burnout)

Caregiving professionals working with people with addictions are prone to burnout given the intense emotional nature of their work. Previous research supports the efficacy of Therapeutic Art in reducing work-related stress and enhancing emotional health among professional caregivers. Students will explore a new integrative model that suggests that the term compassion fatigue should be replaced by the term empathic distress fatigue to more accurately account for symptoms of withdrawal and burnout. An integration of mindfulness meditation with art therapy and reflective awareness has good potential for self-care. A structured approach to mindful-compassion and therapeutic art can reduce work-related stress, cultivate resilience, and promote wellness and can support clear boundaries in the counsellor/client relationship. In this course learners are introduced to relevant concepts such as empathy, compassion, empathic concern, and distress