Final Thoughts

Clients are a paradox. They contribute to both our compassion satisfaction and our compassion fatigue: in essence, both the good and not-so-good parts of our job.

There’s an ancient parable about how hunters used to trap monkeys. Coconuts were hollowed out, filled with monkey delicacies, and tied to a tree. A hole big enough for a monkey’s hand was cut in each coconut, crafted such that although a flexible hand could fit in, a fist could not be pulled out.

Nurses eat their young. I’d never heard that phrase before my training to become a compassion fatigue specialist.