Working, studying or even navigating the healthcare field can be a rollercoaster on a good day – throw in a global pandemic, and the emotional and physical exhaustion of every community instantly skyrocketed. In this difficult time, it is even more important to understand Compassion Fatigue – also known as the negative cost of caring, when you put a little too much of yourself into caring for others in need, that you lose a part of yourself, along with the ability to feel compassion for others.
I created this comic for physiotherapy students during my final year studies – it follows the story of a young boy and his supervisor as they learn about compassion fatigue, and navigate tools and skills that can help manage the symptoms. There are additional resources and information available for further information attached also.
The comic is aimed at healthcare students, but it is applicable to anyone in a caregiving/helping role – whether professional (like doctors, nurses, police officers, counsellors, therapists, personal care assistants, teachers, etc) or personal (carers for elderly parents, parents of young or troubled children, relatives or friends of the critically ill persons, etc).
I hope that this resource will raise awareness and allow readers to feel more knowledgeable and capable of identifying and managing Compassion Fatigue, both in themselves and in those around them.
Full comic available to read online here: https://erinazhang98.wixsite.com/compassionfatigue
Thank you so much! I loved your graphics. I’m dealing with compassion fatigue in my clinical internship.