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In traditional Native American teaching, each time a medicine man/woman heals someone, you give away a piece of yourself until, at some point, you will require healing. The journey to becoming a modern-day healer requires an understanding that the professional helper, at some point in time, will also become wounded and require healing.
Dr. Stebnicki coined the term "empathy fatigue" in 1998 and has been conceptually describing, evaluating, and treating the experience of this phenomenon ever since. Empathy fatigue results from a state of psychological, emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and occupational exhaustion that occurs as the professional providers’ wounds are continually revisited by their clients’ life stories of stress, traumatic stress, grief, loss, chronic illness, and disability.
The number of extraordinary stressful and traumatic events has grown exponentially since the war on terrorism began on September 11, 2001. There has also been an increase in the intensity of natural disasters, gun violence, and political divisiveness, as well as surviving through the phases of a pandemic virus. Consequently, there has been a paradigm shift in helping professions to serve those who have unique medical, physical, and psychological needs.
The consequence of this unique empathic stress and vicarious trauma is experienced by many professional helpers as empathy fatigue. Thus, it is essential that medical and mental healthcare providers are mindful of cultivating optimal levels of personal and professional self-care. Overall, Transcending Empathy Fatigue utilizes guided self-exploration and self-assessment activities that assist in identifying, preventing, and treating the experience of empathy fatigue.
This is a non-interactive, reading-based self-study course.
Instruction consists of a completing book content and a post-test.
The book is a required purchase in addition to course enrollment. Detailed instructions for applying exclusive discount and ordering the book are provided upon course enrollment.
From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.
By checking the checkbox on this page, you agree to the requirement of purchasing the book (in case you don't own it) and thoroughly read it to complete this course.
This is a reading-based course that requires the students to read the book "Transcending Empathy Fatigue by Cultivating Empathy Resiliency".
If you do not own the book, it is a required purchase in addition to the course enrollment. This book is available with a 40% discount only for those enrolling in this course.
Book link: https://titles.cognella.com/transcending-empathy-fatigue-9798823339643#
Detailed instructions for applying for an exclusive discount and ordering the book are provided upon course enrollment.
Upon completion of this training, professionals will be able to do the following:
Learning objectives
- Assess your personal and professional growth potential through self-exploration.
- Implement self-care and wellness practices that are both practical for your life and create deeper meaning for personal integration and insight.
- Demonstrate self-care practices for the people you serve by cultivating a therapeutic relationship and earning the circle of trust.
- Identify multiple therapeutic resources that empower both you and the individuals you serve for optimal wellness.
- Identify core elements of the person-centered relationship that both hinder and support rapport building, facilitating empathic responses, and earning the circle of trust for cultivating an optimal therapeutic alliance.
- Appraise salient features in the functional and psychometric assessment of empathy fatigue as it relates to phases of extraordinarily stressful and traumatic events that hinder the professional’s optimal functioning as a competent and ethical professional.
- Analyze the experience and impact of empathy fatigue as it relates to the professional’s ethical responsibility for providing competent services during intense therapeutic interactions with clients or patients' stressful and traumatic experiences.
- Illustrate approaches and provide guidelines for clinical supervisors in the supervisor-supervisee relationship as it relates to recognizing and addressing issues concerning empathy fatigue.
- Recognize self-care and wellness approaches that integrate the mind, body, and spirit to decrease the experience of empathy fatigue while increasing empathy resiliency.
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Mark A. Stebnicki, Ph.D., LCMHC, DCMHS, CRC, CMCC
Mark A. Stebnicki, Ph.D., LCMHC, DCMHS, CRC, CMCC, is professor emeritus and former coordinator of the Military and Trauma Counseling (MTC) Certificate Program (which he developed in 2015) in the Department of Addictions and Rehabilitation at East Carolina University. He also developed the national Clinical Military Counseling Certificate (CMCC) in 2016, a 12-hour CE program offered nationally through the Telehealth Certificate Institute. Dr. Stebnicki has been a counselor, educator, researcher, and practitioner with over 35 years of experience in the fields of rehabilitation and mental health counseling.
He has practiced and published in areas related to stress, traumatic stress, disaster mental health response, and the psychosocial aspects of chronic illness and disability. He has extensive experience working with active-duty military service members, veterans, veterans with disabilities, and military families. Dr. Stebnicki has published 11 professional books, over 40 journal articles, and book chapters and has provided over 120 national and regional presentations. He has served on many statewide and national professional counseling boards.
Credit Hours: This course consists of 12 continuing education hours of credit.
Counselors: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.
Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations. You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.
Social Workers: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 12 clinical continuing education credits.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.
Psychologists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.
Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.
Other Professionals: This course qualifies for 720 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.
This is a non-interactive, self-study course.
To receive your certificate of completion you must complete the course in its entirety.
To complete an Online Self Study Course, one must register, log in, select the My Courses option from the menu items, click the Course Title, complete all of the modules, complete and pass the post-test(s), and complete the course evaluation.
A grade of at least 80% or more is required to pass the post-test. Retaking the post-test is possible until the participant is able to pass the test.
Psychologists and other professionals seeking CE credit through our approval with the American Psychological Association are asked but not required to complete the course evaluation before obtaining their certificate of completion, however passing a post-test for online self-study courses, and submitting one's attendance for live on-site and live webinars is required.
You can download or print your certificate of completion by logging into your account, navigating to the course by selecting the My Courses option from the menu items, clicking the Course Title, scrolling to the Certificate of Completion section, and clicking on the Certificate of Completion link to either download it or print it.
Participants may request a printed version of their certificate of completion to be delivered by mail. A shipping/handling fee of $6.95 will be charged per request. Shipping internationally may require an additional charge.
Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.
This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.
This is a non-interactive, reading-based self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include reading a book, a post-test, and a course evaluation.
