| Abstract |
"This book is written for people who spend the bulk of their days working with others who are suffering. What I want to offer here is an invitation to conversation: a conversation with me, a conversation within yourself, and a conversation with the people with whom you work. A conversation about what it means to spend your days with people whose lives are disrupted by illness or overwhelmed by brokenness. That can be brokenness in bodies. It can be anything from flu to cancer, from sprains to AIDS. It can be traumatic brain injury, severe mental illness, or debilitating chronic conditions. Or it could be families in neonatal units dealing with children with debilitating genetic defects, struggling to make decisions about if, when, and how to end lives. Or violence on the street, or the devastation of a flood-ravaged community. What is it that we can learn from these situations? I put an emphasis on learning because I do believe that if we don't learn every day, if we don't learn every hour, this work will destroy us. It's important to use a word as strong as "destroy." There are reasons not everyone does this work, and there are limits to how much of this work anyone can do. What we must keep asking ourselves is: Why do we do this work? Why are we drawn to those who suffer? What is it that's good about this? And what not so good? What is it that is admirable, and something that we should show enormous compassion and respect to ourselves for? And what is there in it that is self-destructive, that we should be constantly questioning and challenging? To answer these questions, we must get past the assumption that attending to the suffering is entirely saintly and noble, or that it is a symptom of a deep, perverse drive. Much attention is rightly being focused on people who serve on healthcare's front lines. The framework for these discussions tends most often to be the terms "burnout" and "moral distress." These terms certainly point to very real experiences, very painful experiences. Unfortunately, they also often carry with them judgmental messages: "You are failing." "You must do better." What I want to say to you here is that, while these terms point to realities for those of us who have worked with suffering day-in and day-out, they may not help us move and grow into the deeper ranges of compassion and recognition and attention that are possible, unless we supplement them with other constructs and insights. When I say that I want to encourage a conversation within you, part of what I have in mind is this: We are all multiple selves. And one of the things that happens when we work with people and communities that are suffering and in pain-physical pain, psychological pain, spiritual pain-is that distinct pieces of ourselves often respond quite differently to what is going on in front of us. Many different feelings are stirred. We may be terrified, and at the same time move with great compassion, while being also completely exhausted, and madly energized"-- Provided by publisher. |
