Self-care plans can help people avoid compassion fatigue, says expert

Initiating self-care plans at work can be effective, says David Kennedy

January 26, 2010 -- Deron Hamel

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - Creating a self-care plan to ensure personal needs are being met can be an effective way for caregivers working in long-term care to avoid compassion fatigue, while helping them provide the best possible care to residents, says David Kennedy, the bereavement co-ordinator at Hospice Peterborough.

Compassion fatigue, also called secondary traumatic stress disorder, refers to a condition where people who provide care to others experience decreased compassion over time, caused by stress and anxiety.

Self-care plans, which help ensure personal needs are tended to while caring for others, can help stave off compassion fatigue, Kennedy told attendees at a Jan. 21 Four Counties Long-Term Care Palliative Network meeting.

Developing care teams at work, maintaining a healthy personal life and identifying healing activities are some of the ways people can help develop a self-care plan.

Exercise, meditation and finding "alone time" are some of the successful ways attendees at the meeting said they use to eliminate stress.

Staff members at long-term care homes all attend daily morning meetings, and this is an excellent forum for self-care plans to develop, says Kennedy.

"Start off staff meetings by saying, ‘Before we get started, what do you do when you're feeling stressed?'" Kennedy told the audience.

This, he adds, will provide an opportunity for team members to network about their successful practices for coping with stress.

Staff members can then network about their successful practices for staying stress-free.

To help foster ideas, Kennedy recommends every team member explain their preferred way of alleviating stress and how it is helping them care for themselves.

The end result of creating strong self-care plans, says Kennedy, is that caregivers will be able to enhance care to others because they're making sure their own needs are being met.

Mary Anne Greco, the administrator at Riverview Manor, says this is a concept she would consider bringing to morning meetings at the Peterborough long-term care home.

"I loved his idea of commencing a staff meeting with self care, and what people can do to cope with stress," she says. "There is stress that is on caregivers every day and we need to step back and look at it objectively and from each perspective."

The Four Counties Long-Term Care Palliative Network holds several workshops annually to discuss best practices in palliative care in long-term care homes. The network consists of representatives from long-term care homes in Peterborough, Haliburton and Northumberland counties, as well as the City of Kawartha Lakes.

Frost Manor, Streamway Villa, Burnbrae Gardens, Springdale Country Manor, Pleasant Meadow Manor and Riverview Manor are OMNI Health Care-owned homes belonging to the network.

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- Part 2 of a two-part series

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