5 Practical Ways You Can Help Denton’s Leaders Prevent Compassion Fatigue…(more than just donating time and money)
Having support, no matter what season of life you’re in is crucial to your health and wellbeing.
It’s always easier to overcome obstacles when someone’s got your back.
Support teams allow you the opportunity to kick your heels up, take a breather, and pick up the slack when you’re needing a break. Most importantly, they grant you the freedom to be imperfect and human.
You don’t have to have it all together. You don’t have to get it right every time. You don’t have to be superman.
For leaders, having that space to relax is even more critical.
There are going to be times when you will make the wrong call, give bad advice, and drop the ball on a commitment. But that’s not a slight against your character.
You’re human, you’re not perfect––and better yet… you don’t have to be.
It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to acknowledge your shortcomings, and it’s okay to ask for help.
Specifically, nonprofit leaders have been facing a variety of new challenges since the beginning of COVID-19. However, rather than running their course, the challenges have grown into problems.
Nonprofits are suffering economic consequences of declining revenues and yet they are facing increasing demands for services. Additionally, their leaders are acting as consistent decision-makers both professionally and personally. They are now having to make critical choices regarding the health and safety of their family and their children’s schooling while still heading their organization.
Decision fatigue on top of the compassion fatigue that has caused so many leaders to recently step down is a quickly growing issue.
But the good news is that it’s an issue that you can help prevent.
Your influence is your power–it’s time to harness it
You love the idea of strengthening the community and helping people be the greatest version of themselves–but you can’t be all things to all people.
There are simply too many people to help, too many needs to meet, and not enough individuals to do it.
But this is where nonprofit agencies shine.
Nonprofits are able to accomplish what no one individual can on their own. Local agencies right here in Denton’s backyard are offering housing assistance, helping the homeless, supporting children in foster care, offering transportation services, restoring the lives of traffic victims, and providing quality and affordable healthcare.
You’d love to assist every person around you needing help, but no one person has the resources, time, or bandwidth to do that.
However, you are influencing lives around you every single day.
Do a survey of the people you interact with on a regular basis:
Spouses, children, neighbors, coworkers, business partners, students, in-laws, friends, book club members, teammates, teachers, board members, bosses, soccer team parents…
Your sphere of influence is greater than you realize. Why not harness that strength for the greater good? Why not use your influence to support the nonprofits who do have the bandwidth to drastically help the community?
Nonprofit leaders are needing support and encouragement as they climb the never-ending mountain of helping others in their deepest valleys. The emotional fatigue this causes is at its highest pinnacle.
Yes, overcoming compassion fatigue is a personal journey, but you can play a significant role in helping leaders take their steps toward healing a little bit easier.
Denton community leaders need you now more than ever.
Let your influence be your power.
Wherever you find yourself, you can help.
Supporting nonprofits is more than just donating money and volunteering. Whether you’re a student, CEO, neighbor, spouse, or Sunday school teacher, there are tangible ways you can support local nonprofits and their leaders.
Here are practical steps you can take to help prevent compassion fatigue in your local leaders:
Businesses
Nonprofit facilities are constantly attending conferences, lectures, and workshops to stay abreast of the ever-changing needs of the community. Although you can’t do the learning for them, you can fund lunch while they learn, or even fund a workshop on something beneficial for them. Why not fund a lunch-and-learn on compassion fatigue or self-care? Healthier nonprofit agencies lead to healthier communities. Healthier communities lead to healthier local economies. And ultimately, healthier local economies lead to more success for you.
Schools
Demonstrating and teaching kids how and why to perform acts of kindness is a regular part of your district’s social-emotional curriculum. Many schools even honor an Acts of Kindness day or month. But why stop there?
Make teaching your students about the social, economic, and relational successes local nonprofits make a regular practice. Introduce specific nonprofits serving the Denton community, then have your students write personalized thank you cards to the nonprofit’s staff encouraging them in the work they are doing. A little note of appreciation could be just what they need to keep the air in their sails.
Churches
If you’re looking for a place for your congregation to give back, and be good stewards of the time and resources given to them, you don’t have to look very far. Contact some local nonprofits and schedule a local mission trip where you can focus on coming alongside their staff and leaders to serve the people in your own backyard.
Knowledge is power, so you could also advertise the various local nonprofits and the work they are doing from the pulpit each Sunday to raise awareness and recruit volunteers.
Family and Friends
If you have a personal relationship with a staff member or nonprofit leader, look for ways you can make their personal lives a little easier. Pick up some extra chores around the house, offer to make a meal, or even create an environment where fewer decisions are required when your loved one gets home. The persistent demand of making tough decisions only exacerbates the wear on their mental health.
Additionally, take time to verbally encourage and admonish them. Remind them of the impact they are making, and affirm their efforts. After all, consistent praise and positive feedback have been proven to alter the brain and increase performance. A little pep talk might be just what the doctor ordered.
Serve Denton
Serve Denton partners with nonprofits to help make their services more accessible for people in need to ensure that help is easy to find. By keeping a pulse and tending to what their partners and their leaders are needing, they can ultimately help the helpers, and help organizations maintain their vision of helping people.
Starting in 2022, Serve Denton will be partnering with Compassion Fatigue Consulting, LLC to support, encourage, and empower its partners. By equipping their partners with life-giving workshops, each will be able to operate at their fullest potential. Because of this, more families can be helped, and more lives can be changed.
Whatever sphere of influence you find yourself in, you can help. Be the voice of impact within your own networks. Consider adopting an agency monthly to support our local leaders.
It’s really hard for people to ask for help–especially helping professionals.
And many times it’s not just the office where leaders need some respite.
Not everyone receives help in the same way. Talk to leaders you know and see how you can serve them. You want to make sure the help you're offering is actually helpful, right?
Don’t know where to start?
Here’s a checklist to get the ball rolling:
How Can I Help?
Take a coffee break with you
Bring you a coffee/tea/etc
Make a meal for you
Take you to lunch
Take a walk with you
Walk your dog
Housesit/pet sit while you get away
Lawn care
Childcare for a night or day so you can take a break
Laundry
Run an errand (pick up/drop off something, go to post office, etc)
House cleaning this week
Put up/take down holiday decorations
Write a note of encouragement
Supporting local leaders in this way makes the relationship between organizations and the community stronger and more personal–and a great booster to emotional health.
Sometimes supporting nonprofits is donating time and money (both essential for maintaining the agency and serving the community). But sometimes it’s also taking things off their plate. Sometimes it’s validating and encouraging both the staff and leadership in the work they are doing.
Nonprofit workers are stretched to the max professionally and personally. But you have an opportunity to lighten their load, and in turn, make a greater impact within the community you love.
As a community member, you have a role to play…
Will you help the leaders who have generously helped you?