Compassion Fatigue Specialist
Françoise is a Registered Psychotherapist and a compassion fatigue specialist. Her experience stems from over 20+ years as a mental health professional, working as a crisis counsellor and trauma specialist in university counselling, military, law enforcement, and other community mental health environments. Françoise is co-executive director of TEND, whose aim is to offer consulting and training to helping professionals on topics related to secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, self-care, wellness and organizational health. Since 2001, Françoise has given hundreds of seminars on compassion fatigue and secondary trauma across North America to thousands of helping professionals in the fields of health care, child welfare, the criminal justice system and other similar high-stress, trauma-exposed professions. She is one of the founding members of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium. Françoise is the author of “The Compassion Fatigue Workbook” which was published by Routledge in 2012 as well as several articles and publications.
This is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: COVID-19 Virtual Learning Series
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be long-lasting and far-reaching. Every day, it seems as though we uncover new and unprecedented stressors and strains on our personal health and our healthcare systems.
As professionals working in high-stress, trauma-exposed fields, we need to pace ourselves and consider strategies that will help us remain clear-headed, compassionate and present in the long-term.
This webinar series will offer essential strategies, tools, and resources to help organizations, front line workers and their leaders to continue to support their clients during these uncertain times.
- Navigating Through the Fog: Maintaining our Ability to Think Clearly in Times of Crisis
- Essential Tools from a Trauma Expert: Managing Secondary Trauma, Moral Distress & Compassion Fatigue During COVID-19
- Goodnight Zoom: Strategies for Working Remotely while Maintaining a Community of Practice and Some Routine
- A Steady Hand at the Helm: Effective Leadership During Times of Crisis & Uncertainty
- Introduction to Psychological First Aid (PFA): Key Strategies to Support Individuals in Distress
Compassion fatigue refers to the emotional, physical and spiritual exhaustion that helping professionals can experience over the course of their career as a result of exposure to large volumes of complex cases or difficult situations. Compassion fatigue can impact helpers’ personal and professional lives with symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, a reduction in empathy towards others, loss of hope, exhaustion, and irritability.
Vicarious trauma describes the change that helpers experience in their view of the world when they are repeatedly exposed to high trauma content through patients’ and clients’ stories or through case consultations. Over time, they may experience intrusive images, nightmares, or an intense preoccupation with specific patient/client stories. They may find themselves experiencing secondary traumatic stress which can interfere with their functioning and their ability to do their work.