Compassion fatigue is associated with counselors who have achieved an unpleasant level of exhaustion, frustration, and fatigue due to the multiple stressors associated with the profession of counseling. Accordingly, the CCFS assesses aspects of counselors’ experiences and their perceptions of how they react to these stressors. Feedback received from the CCFS should help identify counseling service providers who are experiencing excessive levels of compassion fatigue.

The following brief instrument contains 20 items designed to assess compassion fatigue in counselors. The CCFS is a Likert scale with five (N=5) rating categories, indicating the degree to which each statement is true for the counselor. Note that total scores range from 20 to 100, with higher scores indicating that the counselor may have a higher degree of “compassion fatigue.” All 20 CCFS items are scaled in the same direction to simplify the counselor’s ability to rate him/herself on each statement. Although the CCFS can be administered on paper and pencil, personally during an interview, or over the telephone, some counselors may prefer to complete this instrument privately.

Information generated from counselors’ feedback using the CCFS can be used to plan appropriate interventions to improve counselors’ coping skills or to facilitate value clarification. The CCFS is intended only to provide supplemental information that may be used in practice. No clinical decisions should be made on the basis of the CCFS or any other single instrument.

(1) Never • (2) Seldom • (3) Sometimes • (4) Often • (5) Always

1. I feel swamped by paperwork.
2. It feels like no one backs me up when I have a problem with a client.
3. I didn’t go into this field to spend my time working on paperwork.
4. I am very tired when I come home from work.
5. It’s hard for me to feel anything for some of my clients.
6. I used to cry over some of my client’s personal stories.
7. I am working too many hours.
8. I am unclear about my future career goals.
9. I am not paid enough for what I have to deal with at work.
10. The insurance companies are now dictating my practice.
11. It seems that clients’ problems are becoming more and more serious.
12. Everyday, it seems to get harder and harder to help my clients.
13. There is too much red tape in this job.
14. I find it increasingly difficult to be sympathetic to my clients.
15. I no longer feel like a professional.
16. I often wonder if I make any difference at all.
17. I just don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to put up with this work.
18. Sometimes I wonder why I went into this field.
19. I am overwhelmed by the suffering of my clients.

Sylvia Kay Fisher, Ph.D., Educational Measurement and Evaluation, has significant program evaluation experience and was formerly a counselor and psychological evaluator. Ronnie Fisher, Ed.S. is a retired psychology teacher and a former social worker and counselor.

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