'COMPASSION FATIGUE' A HAZARD FOR COUNSELLORS

Addiction Workers Helped to Develop Coping Strategies to Deal With
Steady Exposure to Traumatic Stories

EDMONTON - People who have to listen to traumatic stories involving
violence, death, abuse and loss in their job are susceptible to
"compassion fatigue," a conference heard this week.

"Sometimes our clients speak to us in such graphic detail you can see
it all happen in front of you," Kathryn Irwin-Seguin told an audience
of about 150 addiction workers.

"We all take our stories home with us ... so many stories."

Irwin-Seguin is the executive director of the Iris Centre, an
addiction recovery facility for women in Ontario. She was a speaker at
the Shaw Conference Centre, which is hosting the Canadian Centre on
Substance Abuse's second national conference.

She and Leigh MacEwan, a researcher from Laurentian University, said
compassion fatigue has been identified as a potential occupational
hazard for mental health workers who routinely listen to stories of
trauma.

Unlike burnout, which is related to work environment and worsens over
time, the onset of compassion fatigue can happen more quickly and
stems from workers' interaction with their clients' sometimes horrific
life stories.

Irwin-Seguin and MacEwan conducted a study involving counsellors at
the Iris Centre, who, over time, found such stories to be "personally
intrusive," often affecting relationships outside work and causing a
barrage of negative emotions.

"The challenge becomes how to find a way to deal with the toxicity of
the stories while maintaining best practices," said MacEwan.

Workers used a variety of strategies to cope, drawing from spiritual
and emotional resources, and relying heavily on colleagues to debrief
about their experiences.

At the Iris Centre, said Irwin-Seguin, a wellness committee has been
struck to develop strategies on an ongoing basis, and once a month
staff take a day to "just have fun" by doing things like taking golf
lessons or painting classes.

Said Irwin-Seguin: "There's a growing awareness that as compassionate
caregivers,
addiction workers need to be taken care of."