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An Altered World View

Katherine Dobbs, RVT, CVPM, PHR

A few weeks ago, I attended the First Annual Compassion Fatigue Conference in Kingston, Ontario. It was fabulous, and the event was a huge success! It was hosted by Francoise Mathieu (from the website Workshops for the Helping Professions) who I studied with when I began in compassion fatigue. There were nearly 200 people in attendance at the conference, from every type of compassion-fatigue-susceptible professions you can imagine: paramedics, nurses, social workers, crisis workers, teachers, you name it.

So one of the speakers, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, author of the book “Trauma Stewardship,” was talking about how compassion fatigue can affect the way we see the world. For example, someone working with childhood sexual abuse victims or the perpetrators may look at a person on the street and think, hmmm, I wonder if he's ever molested that little girl walking beside him. Or someone dealing with assault victims may be overly cautious with their own routines. I can totally see how that would happen in one of these professions, and while I thought it was interesting and likely prevalent, I didn't really think of it affecting our profession or myself personally.

Then one night during the conference I was sitting having dinner, and looked out the window to see a man walking a husky, and beside him was a pregnant woman. My first thought was, hmmm, I wonder how old that baby will be when that dog first tries to bite it, and will it be euthanized? SMACK! I realized, wow, this is how my profession has affected how I see the world! It can't help but happen, when we experience trauma and scary stuff of all sorts.

Think about it a minute; has your work affected your view of the world? Do you see a golden retriever, and immediately wonder if cancer is lurking? Do you look at a cocker, and wonder if immune-mediated problems have sprung up yet? Do you see a misbehaving dog at the park, and wonder if its owner will give it up or euthanize it?

Interesting...somewhat alarming, but better to own the effects of compassion fatigue on us then to blindly ignore them. When these images or ideas pop into our heads, they are often flashbacks of events we’ve witnessed ourselves in our work, and “flashbacks” is yet another symptom of compassion fatigue. If they occur in our dreams, well, “reoccurring nightmares” are another symptom.

I’m pleased to report that awareness of compassion fatigue continues to grow. I receive invitations from meetings, conferences, and private practices to come talk to veterinary professionals. Once we have awareness, we can begin to look at what can we do about this occupational hazard? That’s my next step!

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