Compassion Fatigue

Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, once said, “In compassion lies the world's true strength.”In many ways, becoming compassionate has made me a better a lawyer; sometimes being compassionate is the best way to put already nervous clients at ease. In other ways, a compassionate approach has taken an emotional toll on me—especially, I found, after I got married and had children and could identify more with my family law clients.

Though I have been aware of Assist since its inception, in January 2012, I took the training and became a Peer Support Volunteer. I am excited to help other lawyers who might battle various compassion fatigue issues. In March 2012, I invited Assist to speak to my firm, the Family Law Office. The presentation was a reminder to us that we need to take care of our clients and ourselves, so we can do our best in the courtroom and in our lives. I found that after the session (and, particularly, the self-test Assist administered), I became more self-aware about how and what I was feeling when I worked with difficult client and cases and how to better address this. 

As lawyers, we are among professionals that are susceptible to compassion fatigue. Though we are trained to be objective and to distance ourselves from our clients, it is difficult not to absorb at least some of the emotion and intensity. I encourage everyone to read this issues with an eye to how you can better address compassion fatigue and lead a balanced professional and personal life.