Barefoot Vegan Mag Jan_Feb 2017

“Compassion fatigue
is the emotional,
physical, and mental
exhaustion that
occurs when caring
What inspired you to want to specialise in
this particular area?
It wasn’t until I went back to grad school to study
psychology that I learned about compassion fatigue. It
was emphasised in my program because therapists can
easily develop it when working with traumatised clients.
As I learned more about it, I thought, ‘so this is what I’ve
been struggling with all these years… it actually has a
name!’ In addition to pet loss grief, I wanted to specialise
in compassion fatigue, particularly among animal welfare
professionals and animal rights activists because these
populations are underserved, misunderstood, and so
saturated with pain and grief. Their pain and grief is
often not recognised or accepted by mainstream society.
By that I mean there are a lot of misconceptions out there
that this community is either a bunch of “animal nuts
who care more about animals than people” or they go to
work and play with puppies and kittens all day. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Whether you are
exposed to videos of factory farming or you work with
animals that have been abused, our community faces an
extraordinary amount of trauma and grief.
Why is compassion fatigue a problem?
Compassion fatigue is a huge problem within the animal
welfare and rights community. It affects those of us who
care the most, and so we run the risk of those people
burning out and leaving the field altogether. Untreated
compassion fatigue can lead to serious problems such as
clinical depression, substance abuse, and even suicide.
Veterinarians and animal control officers have alarmingly
high rates of suicide. Compassion fatigue not only takes a
toll on us personally, but also affects our relationships
with others and spills over into our work. Employers
should take compassion fatigue very seriously as it affects
for animals or people
who are suffering or
staff and volunteer morale, work productivity, and
retention.
What are some of the warning signs that
you’re suffering from it?
Compassion fatigue can look different for everyone.
For me personally, sometimes it sits quietly simmering
on the back burner and other times it boils over. It’s
really important to know your own warning signs so
that you can take steps to manage it. Some of those
warning signs or symptoms include sadness, anger,
anxiety, sleep problems, appetite disturbance,
nightmares or flashbacks, low energy, lack of
motivation, grief, wanting to withdraw from others or
isolate yourself, guilt, feeling empty or numb, work
problems, relationship conflicts, low self-esteem, poor
concentration, bodily complaints such as tight muscles
or headaches, developing a bad attitude or negative
worldview, unhealthy coping skills such as alcohol
abuse, and suicidal thoughts.
In your experience, how common is it for
those working with animals and humans
to suffer from it?
have been
traumatised”.
Not only is compassion fatigue common, but it’s also
normal. You can’t be exposed to that much suffering
and not be affected. It’s not like you either have >
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