Understanding Compassion Fatigue: The Cost of Caring About and For Others

We will be exploring Compassion Fatigue, also known as Empathetic Distress. Compassion Fatigue is a state of tension and preoccupation with the client and family, or the cumulative affects of many clients. Empathic Distress also arises when we feel the suffering of people around the world, brought into our lives through graphic photos and other forms of media. We will be considering ways to deal with Compassion Fatigue.

We will also have a Death Café. Circle of Friends for the Dying(CFD) has been facilitating CFD Death Cafés for over 5 years. Death Cafés help us move toward what CFD envisions as being “a society that mindfully accepts dying and death as a part of everyday life.” It is a safe space to openly discuss thoughts, feelings, and experiences regarding dying and death. There is no theme to a CFD Death Café and it is not a grief support group. CFD offers a short presentation on a topic deemed important by past participants. For more information and details on future Death Cafés: www.facebook.com/CFDDeathCafe; or call 845.802.0970.

Circle of Friends for the Dying is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization in the Mid-Hudson Valley chartered to bring compassionate, competent care to individuals and their families by providing a Home and a circle of community support. https://www.cfdhv.org/

Laurie Schwartz as one of the early leaders of the Hospice movement in the United States, she co-founded and directed what is now Hudson Valley Hospice in Ulster and Dutchess Counties, NY. In 1995 Laurie was recognized by Hospice as a dynamic visionary and social activist, and again in 2018 as a leader in the field of Thanatology. She has trained hundreds of people in the arena of dying, death, and bereavement through Hospice’s volunteer training program and through Securelanding programs. In 2012 Laurie co-founded Circle of Friends for the Dying (CFD), which is establishing a Home for people with 3 months or less to live. Laurie has been facilitating CFD Death Cafes since 2012, is presently serving on the Board of Directors of Circle of Friends for the Dying, and privately assists people with their end-of-life directives.