Funeral service is a high-touch, high-stress career that, unfortunately, comes with a high-degree of compassion fatigue and burnout. To help members of the funeral service profession understand when on-the-job stress might be impacting them and steps they can take to better cope with and preserve their emotional well-being, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) has introduced the free Take 5 self-care series.
“Effectively managing that stress is so very important because, when we take care of ourselves, we’ll be better able to take care of the families who are depending on us,” said NFDA President Randy Anderson, CFSP, CCO. “The new Take 5 self-care series is a free resource developed by NFDA to help anyone – regardless of membership status – identify and address the stresses in your life that come with being a funeral service professional.”
Available online 24/7, Take 5 is a series of short activities designed to give funeral service professionals – both NFDA members and nonmembers – information and practices to better care for themselves. The interactive series features short videos, quizzes, self-assessments and self-care tips and is based on the Funeral Service Foundation’s “Caring for Families & Caring for Yourself: A self-care handbook for funeral service professionals,” written by Dr. Alan Wolfelt.
Take 5 viewers will learn to:
- Identify their sources of stress that personally impact them on the job and at home and gauge their level of burnout.
- Recognize symptoms of burnout and common, often unhealthy, coping mechanisms.
- Use strategies for minimizing the impact of stress on the job and tips to develop a personal plan for self-care.
- Be proactive and prioritize your self-care in small, manageable steps.
- Understand the wide range of free resources available to funeral professionals to further explore self-care and mental health with articles, screenings and toolkits.
Funeral service professionals can access the Take 5 series online, www.nfda.org/Take5.
Other Resources
To help members be at their best so they can effectively support families, NFDA has partnered with SupportLinc to offer a member assistance program. This confidential support service is available 24/7, 365 days per year at no charge to NFDA members and their immediate family members (e.g., spouse, children).
Administered by CuraLinc Healthcare, SupportLinc offers in-the-moment support and short-term counseling by phone, web, text or mobile app with a licensed clinician; digital support group sessions; legal consultation; financial consultation; and more. Information about the tools, resources and information available to NFDA members can be found online at www.nfda.org/SupportLinc.
“Caring for Families & Caring for Yourself: A self-care handbook for funeral service professionals,” the booklet on which Take 5 is based, along with a companion “Self-care Manifesto poster,” are available at no charge via the Foundation’s website, www.funeralservicefoundation.org/resources.
“The Funeral Service Foundation is proud to offer ‘Caring for Families & Caring for Yourself’ as an important resource for funeral professionals,” said Foundation Chair Allan Cole. “NFDA’s Take 5 series will help bring Dr. Wolfelt’s self-care guidance to even more people in the profession.”
“As a funeral home owner, I know that my funeral home can’t care for grieving families if we don’t have a strong team,” Anderson said. “I urge funeral home owners and managers to help their team be at their best by helping them access the Take 5 series and the other resources offered by NFDA and the Foundation.”
NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.