Resilient Retreat’s 2021 Community Impact Report provides valuable insights into the positive and negative emotions and impacts of helping others at work. Over half of those surveyed report compassion fatigue consisting of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Surveys were completed by 180 individuals from a variety of helping professions, including medical, law enforcement, nonprofit, fire/EMS, education, mental health, and human services. Compassion Fatigue is a term that describes the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others — often through experiences of stress or trauma. Medical professionals reflected the highest levels of burnout, while Fire/EMS reported the lowest. Medical professionals reported the highest level of secondary traumatic stress, while fire/EMS reported the lowest. Overall, 52% of local first responders/helping professionals reported experiencing compassion fatigue, with 43% reporting moderate to severe burn-out and 39% reporting moderate to severe secondary traumatic stress.

“Understanding needs and providing programs to support our remarkable first responders and other helping professionals is essential for community health and workforce stability,” said Dr. Sidney Turner, Resilient Retreat Founder and Chair, Board of Directors. “While many respondents experience satisfaction in their work, this data shows that the struggle with compassion fatigue has a negative impact on the individual and in turn, those whom they serve.”

Compassion Satisfaction is the antidote to Compassion Fatigue. It encompasses the pleasure and satisfying feeling that comes from helping others. Mental health professionals reported the highest levels of compassion satisfaction while law enforcement reported the lowest. The average score reflected a “moderate” score of compassion satisfaction for all professional disciplines.

To read the full report, click here.