The Negative Side of Helping: Compassion Fatigue is Causing Local Nonprofit Leaders to Leave
Helping others makes you feel good. There’s no denying it.
Donating your time and resources to others, offering a simple act of kindness, or even finding the perfect gift for a loved one–just because–actually causes your brain to promote oxytocin, a hormone associated with feelings of bonding, love, and connection.
This physiological change in your brain has also been nicknamed the “helper’s high”, referring to the emotions of euphoria and joy.
For the majority of nonprofit leaders, this feeling is just the icing on the cake to a deeper motivation of helping the community in a full-time capacity. It’s empathy and a desire to see a community change for the better that propels these individuals into a full-time professional helper role.
But not all people who enjoy helping others are able to sustain the 24/7 life of a professional helper…
Being in a helping profession requires a very specific set of qualities, even for the most helpful helpers.
Nonprofit executive directors are constantly climbing uphill. On top of managing an entire organization in addition to each volunteer and staff member, they are also expected to have programmatic expertise, fundraising skills, and financial acumen. They are constantly advocating for the well-being of the individuals they serve, the mission of their agency, as well as the improvement of the community at large. And if that weren’t enough, they are also expected to partner with their board of directors, oversee the organization’s internal affairs, and be the face of fundraising to the public.
Having the unique ability and calling to empathize with people who are hurting, they juggle each of these responsibilities with poise and tact. Driven to connect, provide solutions, and carry each person in need to the finish line, they even find themselves sacrificing many of their own needs along the way.
But when the demand for help is at its highest peak, can the supply of this helper’s high euphoria match the need?
Can helping too much actually hurt the helper?
With so many burdens to carry, it’s no surprise that employee turnover within the nonprofit sector has always been a struggle. Employee turnover has long been an issue for the nonprofit sector. According to ExactHire.com, the voluntary annual turnover rate is 19%—a staggering 7% higher than the all-industry average.
And that’s when circumstances are at best…
In February 2020, Nonprofit HR revealed a study showing that 45% of responding nonprofit employees indicated that they will seek new or different employment by 2025.
If this was right before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can only assume how much higher those statistics are now.
In the past 18 months alone, this country has faced a global pandemic, social injustices, political unrest, economic stress, and striking numbers of unemployment.
Nonprofits are suffering economic consequences of declining revenues and yet they are facing increasing demands for services.
The amount of people who have been reaching for a helping hand is at an all-time high.
But behind every person receiving help is a team of helpers pouring out their empathy along with their resources.
According to a 2019 study done through John Hopkins University, 1 out of every 10 employees works for a nonprofit. There have been 12.3 million individuals who have been on the front lines of serving their communities throughout the past 18 months...which leaves 12.3 million individuals at risk for compassion fatigue.
Nonprofit leaders and their faculty have worked relentlessly to serve each and every individual who has breached their doors. Food has been given, rental and mortgage assistance offered, children advocated for and healthcare provided.
And as a result of this constant outpouring of compassion, nonprofit leaders are leaving.
Being on the front lines of seeing people at their point of greatest need isn’t easy. The emotional toll of seeing hurting people every single day eventually begins to take a toll. What started off as that initial helper’s high slowly gives way to something more dangerous: compassion fatigue.
What is compassion fatigue?
Compassion fatigue is defined as the compounding of emotional and physical exhaustion caused by the insatiable demand of people suffering around them. This leads to a diminished ability to emphasize or show compassion to others.
To put it plainly, compassion fatigue cuts off the helper’s emotional ability to help others.
It’s critical to note that compassion fatigue is not the same as burnout. Burnout slowly emerges over time offering warning signs along the way, while compassion fatigue has a rapid and intense onset.
Dr. F. Oshbery explained compassion fatigue this way, “your ability to feel and care for others becomes eroded through overuse of your skills and compassion.”
Compassion fatigue can surface differently for each person.
The most common symptoms, according to the American Psychological Association, are:
Depression and anxiety
Emotional exhaustion
Secondary traumatic stress
Intrusive thoughts
Hypervigilance
Numbness and apathy
Feeling trapped or constantly on edge
Loss of productivity
Workaholism
Sleep deprivation
Do any of these symptoms resonate with you? If so, you’re not alone.
Based on a recent report, 86% of nonprofit employees believe they do extra work for their job that isn’t really expected of them. Additionally, 58% feel “used up” at the end of the work day, leading to a staggering 89% likelihood of those employees staying at their current position.
But just because compassion fatigue can be a casualty of leading with your heart, it doesn’t mean it has to be.
Turn your compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction:
Practice self-care
There’s no denying that emotional turmoil from the past two years has affected many people’s lives. Mental health care needs have been on the rise as people seek skills to cope with the anxiety and unknowns of a changing community. Leaders are no exception. The emotional health of nonprofit leaders has been made much more fragile.
It’s important for you to take time for yourself, and to invest in the activities and people who fill your cup. Carve out a specific time for you and your family to play a game or have quality time together. Set aside a few hours for uninterrupted “you” time and give yourself the space to recharge your batteries. Allow your community of like-minded friends and partners to share some of the burden, however that may look.
You can’t successfully pour into others if your tank is already depleted.
Administer compassion to yourself
Each day you are giving grace and compassion to both your staff, your board, and the community. (Not to mention your family who you’re going home to every night.) Make sure you are granting yourself just as much grace as you're giving to others.
Guilt, stress, and that old too familiar feeling of all the things you should be doing will only exhaust you more.
Give yourself the permission to forgive your mistakes, accept your shortcomings, and don’t beat yourself up for those lapses of judgment. Embrace your humanity. You will be able to help a lot of people–but you won’t be able to help everyone. Do the best you can with the resources you have, and don’t dwell on the rest.
Remember that you are doing an incredibly difficult job, and you’re doing it exceptionally well. Believe that.
Partner with people who will advocate for you
Are you yearning for that pleasure and satisfaction of helping others to fuel your fire once again? If you’re experiencing compassion fatigue, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Don’t accept this emotional burden as your new normal.
Certain people and agencies actually specialize in helping leaders like you and can help turn your compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction.
Alicia Ward and her team at Compassion Fatigue Consulting, LLC are located right here in your backyard. They provide supportive counseling for both you and your staff. They specialize in helping rebuild your resilience and provide the support you need so you can return to fully helping others.
At people’s toughest points, you’ve been there for them… now it’s time to let people be there for you.