Social workers are affected deeply, in positive and negative ways, by our work as helpers. Our field, and its literature, recognizes compassion fatigue (CF), vicarious traumatization, and burnout as occupational hazards that can diminish our empathy and interfere with professional performance, clinical excellence, and well-being. No matter our practice — whether trauma therapist, case manager, medical or palliative care, community organizer, manager, or supervisor — we are at risk given the nature of our proximity to human suffering and our desire to alleviate it. On the positive, literature also suggests that compassion satisfaction (CS) and vicarious resilience are experiences in our work that can sustain and enhance our practice and inspire us and enrich our personal lives.

Many workshops and conferences focus on the importance of personal and out-of-work self-care as an essential component of compassion fatigue prevention for social workers. This workshop will focus instead on self-care within work environments, and specifically, on the task of identifying comprehensive steps we can take to create meaningful change for ourselves, and our practice, DURING and WHILE we work. The workshop will describe the different concepts related to CF and CS, identify risk and protective factors within practice settings, provide assessment tools, and introduce the workplace self-care action plan (SCAP) used by VA Connecticut Healthcare System Social Work Service.

Discussion will highlight the role collaborative professional relationships play in enhancing CS and reducing CF. It will also invite social work managers and supervisors, as well as frontline clinicians, to develop and implement individualized, team, unit, and system prevention programs to create and sustain work environments where social workers, and their clients, thrive not just survive.

Wendy Bassett, LCSW  is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Midtown Manhattan. She specializes in working with men and women who seek recovery from the aftereffects of trauma. Her expertise is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and brief, evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapies for PTSD. She meets with people as individuals or groups, or with their spouses, partners, or family members.

2 CE Contact Hours

REFUND REQUESTS:

All refund requests must be submitted by email to workshops@naswnyc.org . Valid requests must be received no later than five days prior to course date. 

All refunds are subject to a $20.00 administrative processing fee. Credit cannot be issued toward a future program date or substituted for another workshop. Refund requests typically require 1-2 weeks processing time.