OBJECTIVE
Compassion fatigue – or the physical and mental burnout of attending to other’s needs – is very common in disaster relief and trauma workers, including firefighters, police, counsellors, social workers and NGOs (Figley, 1995). It is believed that prolonged compassion fatigue can evolve into internalized responses (where the personal wellbeing of the individual can be disregarded), thus traumatizing the individual by result of hyper-activated empathetic responses (Palm et al., 2004). As a consequence, these types of professions often have a high turnover rate (Ray et al., 2013). As with any trauma, there is the inability to predict what type of environment might be most traumatic and when such negative reactions could flare up (Foa et al., 1992). This has implications on wellbeing and resilience. It is believed that implementing workplace wellness programmes with professions supporting other’s needs will help address vicarious traumatic responses and enable participants to develop consistent coping strategies, minimizing the effects of stress and preventing job burnout.