Derik Moore's job defined stressful. When he worked as a Philadelphia Department of Human Services investigator, he was the one who talked to children who had been abused, sometimes sexually, and confronted their abusers.
But he was handling it OK, Moore thought, triumphing when he made a difference, and accepting "a baseline melancholy" as part of life.
"Then my dentist says, 'You're grinding the hell out of your teeth,' " Moore said.
Stress in the body, stress at home, distance from loved ones, ulcers, high blood pressure: it all comes from "compassion fatigue," and for the 50 counselors and therapists attending a workshop Wednesday on "Stress Management & Self Care in the Field," Moore's story rang all too true.
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