The nonprofit sector and other helping careers like healthcare, mental health, and social work are oftentimes very rewarding but can be incredibly difficult to work in. To the detriment of our communities, and our world, we are losing talented, experienced, compassionate, and innovative world changers, often due to the lack of support and unrealistic demands put on these professionals and leaders. There are many who have had the helping profession negatively impact them deeply and some to the point where their burnout, lack of support, heavy workloads, and low pay has caused them to not only leave their organizations, but their profession altogether. The result is these fields are losing highly qualified leaders because of something that could be prevented. Compassion fatigue may result in poor job performance and plummeting self-esteem, and thus it can even drive some people who experience it out of their professions entirely, says Ms. Dillon. Those who suffer from it can also experience tension in their home lives, or even fall into clinical depression or other mental-health problems, she says.” – Philanthropy

Now we also have the added stress of the Coronavirus impact and the fact that we don’t have any clue when this is going away. We have to learn the strategies of how to keep coming back every day to work and how to live through all of these stressors.

There is a ton of data which shows significant instances of negative wellbeing issues such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety, insomnia and depression, weight gain, turning to destructive coping mechanisms like drinking and drugs in professional who work in helping professions like nonprofits and healthcare.

Self-care and a healthy self-relationship is vital for you because you can only take on so much before your body and mind just start breaking down due to the stress of it all. Intentionally practicing restorative self-care helps build your emotional and physical stamina and resilience, so you can continue to fight and show up strong every day. Communities and lives are literally counting on YOU.

You typically put everyone else first and don’t take the time to take care of yourself. Restorative self-care is vital to the professional’s longevity and overall health. Being intentional about it daily, helps to guard against and manage stress that comes your way, as well as helps to enhance our overall wellbeing, and personal and professional functioning.

I have been there, done that, and I don't want you to go through it. Prevention is easier than recovery. Trust me! This course is going to help you remember you WHY for choosing to work in a helping profession in the first place, as well as give you an understanding of what compassion fatigue is and how you can prevent it. We will also walk through the beginning steps of creating your own individualized self-care plan to get you on your way to building resilience and improving your overall wellbeing.