Mission

Replenish: Helping the Helper’s Mission is to provide support and training for those in the helping/caregiving field (mental health clinicians, social workers, nurses, teachers, etc.) so that they can successfully care for themselves, and in turn, care for others.

Purpose

Helping the helpers, that’s what we do. Our world needs helpers now more than ever. Whether helpers are mental health clinicians, social workers, nurses, teachers, or paraprofessionals serving in our nonprofit organizations, we need those helpers to be healthy, aware, present, and cared for so they remain happy and committed to the most important work of serving others. So often, people find themselves in behavioral health work because they have huge hearts and just enough personal experience to offer help and hope to others. Some are lucky enough to get degrees and licenses, others hold strong as paraprofessionals in service to those that need the most help and support. Regardless of position, all who work in the field of caring for others often find themselves overworked, overburdened, stressed, sometimes traumatized, and eventually, burnt out. The toll of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma often lead caregivers to other, less stressful (and sometimes more lucrative) occupations. According to compassion fatigue expert Francoise Mathieu, between 40 and 85% of “helping professionals” develop vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and/or high rates of traumatic symptoms (Mathieu, F. 2012. The Compassion Fatigue Workbook, Routledge, NY). The bottom line? We lose dedicated, passionate, qualified, and educated clinicians and caregivers to vicarious and secondary trauma every day, because we do not provide them with tools and ongoing support to address and prevent this very serious condition. Caregivers are asked to be ever present for others. Helping the Helpers offers opportunities for caregivers to present for themselves.