#74: The mental rectal part 2: Compassion fatigue. With Rhonda Andrews and Dr Taleta Hompas

Rhonda is back for another thorough probing of the mind, and in this episode, we examine the phenomenon of compassion fatigue from tip to… tail. What is it, how is it different from burnout, how do we recognise it, and what can we do to head it off long before it rears its ugly head? (Spoiler alert: yes, rest and self-care and boundaries and all of those other common sense things all play an important role, but you might be surprised by what the ONE THING is that can provide you with the best protection against becoming a member of the ‘I survived compassion fatigue’ club.)

This episode features a conversation between Rhonda and Dr Taleta Hompas as they unpack Taleta’s story and her experiences around compassion fatigue. Taleta is a vet whose career has covered multiple aspects of the vet journey: from the frontlines of the reception desk to the trenches of vet nursing and intense stints of emergency vetting, all the way to founder and director of an emergency business and being responsible for the wellbeing of the team. She shares openly about the insidious creep of compassion fatigue in her career, a breaking point, and getting back to passion and compassion without the fatigue.

If you haven’t met Rhonda yet - where have you been?! Rhonda is the founder, managing director and senior psychologist at the Barrington Centre, a specialist psychological firm that works with individuals and teams to help them address complex environments. Rhonda also helped create a program specifically modified for the Vet Profession called Systems of Support, or SOS.

Go to thevetvault.com for show notes and to check out our guests’ favourite books, podcasts and everything else we talk about in the show.

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