<p> Social workers witness tragedy on a daily basis, meaning they regularly face significant risks for mental and physical exhaustion, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. <i>Compassion fatigue</i> is a state experienced by those helping people or animals in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper. Person-Centered Expressive Arts (PCEA) is a group process that facilitates therapeutic growth through integrated use of art, movement, writing, and music. </p><p> This mixed method case study examined the impact of a PCEA group process on compassion fatigue in social workers. Two research questions were examined: &ldquo;What is the impact of PCEA group process on participants&rsquo; compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress?&rdquo; and, &ldquo;What other impacts do participants report resulting from the PCEA group process?&rdquo; Five social workers with M.S. degrees and at least 3 years of full-time work experience and who self-reported feeling tired, depressed, and/or stressed as a result of their job participated in the study. The group process was conducted over four 3-hour sessions and included movement or meditation, a visual art activity, and group sharing. Compassion fatigue was assessed prior to the group process through an online compassion fatigue assessment. </p><p> During the group process, data were collected through the researcher&rsquo;s direct observation and participant-observation, and participants&rsquo; art expression. After the group process, participants completed the online assessment again and took part in one in-depth interview that was audio-recorded and transcribed. Within- and cross-case analyses were produced to determine the effects of the group process on participants&rsquo; experiences of compassion fatigue. </p><p> Findings indicated that all participants suffered from compassion fatigue before the study began and, to a lesser degree, after the study ended. Four out of the five participants outlined ways that PCEA eased their compassion fatigue by helping them regain lost parts of themselves, release pent-up emotions and energy, and recognize anew the need for work-life balance and self-care. </p><p> These findings align with past research, which found that the use of expressive arts increased participants&rsquo; abilities to identify, voice, and understand emotions; discover intuitive and spiritual aspects of themselves; release energy; and improve problem solving. Future studies are advised to further expand the body of research on the specific impacts of these group processes for compassion fatigue in helping professionals.</p><p>

<p> Secondary traumatic stress is the physiological reaction to vicarious traumatization. Public child welfare workers are exposed daily to the traumas of child maltreatment from neglect to death. Unlike other first responders, child welfare workers have continued exposure to the trauma of child maltreatment with every report, change in placement, and discussion. Rural child welfare workers have an added burden of issues common to both the children and families they serve, and to themselves as members of their communities: isolation, social proximity, dual relationships, remoteness, and fewer resources. In an effort to identify the experiences of secondary traumatic stress in rural child welfare workers in this study, eight child welfare workers were individually interviewed from two separate, remote, rural communities. Using semi-structured, open-ended questions, discussions of their experiences produced a wealth of data that was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings gave discovery that rural child welfare workers do experience secondary traumatic stress, and included symptoms such as: depression, frustration, exhaustion, sleeplessness, crying, hypervigilance, avoidance, guilt, loss of appetite, and more. Many of these symptoms were exacerbated by the characteristics of the remote, rural community as there were few outlets and venues for discussing and debriefing in privacy. Conclusions were rural child welfare agencies need to engage in providing trauma informed training and support to their workers, and include secondary trauma as part of their culture in supervision and management. Finally, several new resources are discussed which are available to agencies and staff from national child welfare institutes, agencies, and online publications.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the experience of employee wellbeing and compassion fatigue (CF) in the animal care industry. According to Figley and Roop (2006) in <i>Compassion Fatigue in the Animal-Care Community,</i> compassion fatigue is found at every level among the caregivers in animal-related fields. Utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology, this study explored the experience of employee wellbeing (EW) and compassion fatigue via interviews with 11 participants who are paid, full-time employees from a diverse array of animal shelters. Data analysis followed van Manen&rsquo;s (1990) description of the <i>inventive thoughtful</i> attitude, which takes place through an ongoing process of writing and reflecting throughout and after data collection to capture participant narratives. </p><p> The interpretation of the findings and incorporation of relevant literature led to the development of six key conclusions: 1. <u>Personal History: </u> Participants&rsquo; prior life experiences and personal histories are relevant to, and may have implications for, the experience of compassion fatigue. 2. <u>Social Construct:</u> Participant understanding of compassion fatigue is socially constructed, developed through comparisons to, interactions with and support from others. 3. <u>Dirty Work:</u> The perception of animal caregiving as a form of &ldquo;dirty work&rdquo; has consequences for the experience of employee wellbeing and compassion fatigue. 4. <u>Three-Tier Approach:</u> Participants use two frequently promoted strategies to combat compassion fatigue: self-care and compassion satisfaction, but they also engage in proactive behaviors, implying a three-tier approach to coping with and combatting CF and improving employee wellbeing. 5. <u>Levels of Responsibility:</u> Participants believe the responsibility to develop and employ appropriate solutions to address issues of compassion fatigue and employee wellbeing exists on three different levels: individual, organizational, and societal. 6. <u>Primary Outcomes: </u> Two primary outcomes are evident from the experience of compassion fatigue&mdash;if caregivers are unable to combat the syndrome, they may reach a breaking point and burn out of the field; alternatively they may overcome CF, continue in their work and thrive. </p><p> Implications for research, theory and practice are presented. A better understanding of CF will allow for more effective planning, preparation and intervention at each level of responsibility. The contributions of this study offer constructive ideas for both individuals and organizations to incorporate into their efforts to reduce CF, improve EW, and hopefully avoid burnout and turnover.</p>