September 23, 2004

 

Dear Colleague:

 

I am so delighted and honored that you will be attending my course in the beautiful Black Mountains of North Carolina. It is the première offering by the Academy of Traumatology. Many of the directors of accredited training programs will be there and plan to offer the compassion fatigue courses at their own institution in the coming years.

 

The purpose of this letter is to orient you to the course and the training. Like other courses I teach, there are reading assignments, a syllabi, textbooks, and handouts. You need to acquire the textbook for each course. However, the Academy of Traumatology has established an exclusive Internet web site on this page, in cooperation with the FSU Traumatology Institute from which you can acquire the other items. Please be sure to visit the web site, download and print the following items if you are unable to link from this page:

  1. The syllabus for the course for which you are enrolled.
  2. The Student Workbook for the course for which you are enrolled.
  3. The Handbook for Compassion Fatigue Education and Therapy.

 

We will have available at the training site the course textbooks for purchase, although you should feel free to purchase them on line (e.g., www.amazon.com) and we will have copies (or can make copies) of the above items for an extra charge. Therefore, please be sure to bring all these items with you.

 

Please be at the training no later than 8:30 AM. We will start on time for those who are there.

 

Please wear comfortable clothes. We will ask you to stretch and perform other healthy exercises.

 

Please come to the training with an attitude of adventure and opportunity. We intend to provide you with the tools and materials to help those avoid or recover from compassion fatigue with a heavy emphasis on self care. We also intend for you to honestly evaluate your own self care and, perhaps, set goals for healthy change in your life. To do so will enable you to better help others who help the traumatized.

 

I look forward to being your instructor. Please reply to my email with questions, comments, or suggestions about how this can be a better education and therapeutic experience for you.

 

Sincerely,

Charles R. Figley, Ph.D.

Academy President