This full-day, interactive training introduces peer workers to compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout, and how each affects individual wellbeing and organizational performance. Through discussion, self-assessment, and small group practice, participants explore what puts peer workers at risk, learn to recognize warning signs early, and build the boundaries, self-care habits, and compassion satisfaction that sustain this work. Offers 6 NAADAC CE credits.

What You’ll Learn

• What compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress are, what causes them, and who is most at risk
• How secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout build on one another over time
• Emotional, physical, and behavioral warning signs to watch for in yourself and your colleagues
• How compassion satisfaction and healthy detachment protect your ability to stay present and empathetic
• Seven types of boundaries, the myths that get in the way, and how to handle internal and external resistance
• Practical self-care steps and how to build a plan you will actually follow

What You’ll Take Away
A scored personal assessment of your own compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress; a written self-care plan; and practice having a supportive conversation about compassion fatigue with a colleague, supervisor, or direct report.

Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI088037 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.