RSU Assistant Professor of Community Counseling Dr. Kathy Hoppe recently completed a training program to earn Forward-Facing Professional Resilience Coach certification. As one of only 25 in the U.S. to receive this certification, Hoppe is accredited to treat burnout and compassion fatigue, while helping others develop their emotional resiliency.
“I received this training by leading traumatologist J. Eric Gentry, who created the evidence-based Accelerated Reading Program under the guidance of Charles Figley, PhD, who was responsible for developing the diagnosis of PTSD as well as coining the term ‘compassion fatigue.’”
Compassion fatigue is a term that describes the physical, emotional and psychological impact of helping others, often through experiences of stress or trauma, which creates a cumulative sense of fatigue or dissatisfaction resulting from the emotional toll of caring for people or their emotional pain. Compassion fatigue also is referred to as vicarious or secondary trauma, referencing the way that other people’s trauma can become that of those desiring to help relieve the suffering of others.
Identified in the early 2000s, compassion fatigue is a condition that has become the subject of increasing scrutiny in recent years, Hoppe said, particularly with the recent pandemic.
“I’m currently seeking a second doctorate degree, one which has a focus in trauma, and I’m focusing my dissertation on compassion fatigue in rural school counselors,” she said. “Coming out of the pandemic, we saw an exponential increase in people suffering from this – healthcare workers, education workers, etc. – which fueled my desire to learn even more about it and to get a certification to be able to help people suffering from this condition.”
To achieve her certification, Hoppe met weekly in a cohort program with Dr. Gentry, completed a practical component with a partner and met individually with Gentry for quality assurance. In addition to this certification, Hoppe is also a Compassion Fatigue Educator, Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), licensed through the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health.
“During the past year, I have offered presentations on compassion fatigue to the Saint Francis Health System, Ascension Health System nationwide, the Oklahoma Correctional Association, multiple community mental health agencies, industry settings and educational systems,” she said. “Additionally, I provided compassion fatigue coaching and consulting to more than 1,000 individuals during the pandemic for which I earned the 2022 Health Care Hero award.”
“Treating compassion fatigue is fairly easy, but it does take intentionality. That’s the hardest part of it,” she said, “but with what I learned in my training, I’m hoping to bring that knowledge to the university, to its students, its faculty and staff to help provide resources for them to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue.”
In her work as a licensed marital and family therapist, she has experience in individual, marital, group, outpatient, inpatient, residential, employee assistance programs and medical offices. She has written numerous books on the topic to help others learn to deal with their compassion fatigue. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of North Texas and a Master of Divinity from Golden Gate Seminary. She also earned a Master of Science in general psychology from Grand Canyon University as well as a Doctor of Ministry from Oral Roberts University.
Hoppe teaches courses in counseling theories, marriage and family systems, counseling theories and applications, and counseling clients with personality disorders in the Master of Science in community counseling graduate program, as well as child psychology and clinical neuroscience for the psychology and sociology undergraduate programs.
For more information about degrees in community counseling at Rogers State University, visit www.rsu.edu/MSCC. For more information about degrees in psychology or sociology, visit www.rsu.edu/BS-SocialScience.