United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Partners with Phoebe Allentown to Facilitate a Self-Care Series for Caregivers
United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley’s Age-Friendly Lehigh Valley and Resilient Lehigh Valley partnered with Phoebe Allentown to facilitate multiple Compassion Resilience (CR) training sessions for caregivers in community. Compassion Resilience is the ability to maintain a state of physical, emotional and mental well-being while responding compassionately to those who are suffering.
When supporting patients or loved ones, caregivers often experience compassion fatigue, an emotional and physical distress caused by helping or witnessing the suffering of others for a prolonged period. CR training equips caregivers with the tools to act with compassion while and to identify and mitigate signs of compassion fatigue.
Drivers of compassion fatigue include short staffing, lack of communication, unrealistic expectations and lack of support. On the other hand, drivers of compassion resilience include positive feedback, signs of appreciation, adequate self-care and a strong support system.
“As a caregiver, I have an urge to help everyone, but sometimes we need to help ourselves first to deliver the best quality care,” shared one CR training attendee.
To find Compassion Resilience Toolkits visit Compassion Resilience Toolkit – WISE Initiative for Stigma Elimination (eliminatestigma.org).
