About

Caring Safely®

Professional Development & Continuing Education

Caring Safely® is an educational institute in Canada. It was founded in 2015 by Charlene Richard, a registered social worker in Calgary, Canada.

Charlene has been teaching compassion fatigue and burnout prevention to individuals and organizations across North America since 2008. She created Caring Safely to bring her workshops and coaching programs online.

The online Caring Safely Skills Program is unlike any other compassion fatigue prevention program. It includes 12-months of support as people learn and implement new strategies for long-term practice.

Virtual sessions have enabled participants from around the world, including: Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, the UK and North America.

In 2018 Caring Safely expanded to offer advanced training and capacity building through the Compassion Fatigue Expert Program.

Clinical supervisors, managers or leadership are taught organizational strategies to address compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma.

Advanced training is included for those who want to develop an expertise in the subject matter and create their own presentations, workshops or onboarding for individuals.

Founder of Caring Safely

Charlene Richard, B.S.W, M.S.W., RSW

Since 2005, Charlene has worked in various mental health & addictions programs across Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta. She has clinical experience in crisis services for women & children experiencing interpersonal violence, mental health counselling in universities, concurrent disorder services in community health and behavioural health services in primary care clinics. She has maintained a private practice since 2009.

Charlene has won awards for teaching through the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and for small business development specific to Caring Safely. She is also the author of 20 Quick Strategies to Help Patients and Clients Manage Stress.

Customized Workshops

Charlene works with organizations to provide custom trainings for their needs. While some organizations may be focused on introducing this topic to their staff, others may want more advanced training focused on practical strategies to prevent and recover from compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress Increasingly, organizations are choosing to offer workshops for both direct providers as well as clinical supervisors, managers and leadership, opening these workshops up to other department or organizations in the community. Trainings are provided in various formats, including; face-to-face (currently paused due to the pandemic), webinars and virtual workshops via zoom.

These trainings are ideal for staff who regularly witness and empathize with people experiencing trauma, grief or hardships and want to learn how to manage the impacts while still providing compassionate care. Participants learn a trauma-informed approach to preventing or reducing compassion fatigue, moral injury, vicarious trauma, acute stress or burnout. Depending on the training, certificates of completion may be available for continued education hours.

Since 2008, Charlene has provided consultation or training with the Health Canada, The Department of National Defence, The Canadian Association of Social Workers, The Alberta College of Social Workers, Alberta Health Services, Canadian Mental Health Association, Child and Family Services, Hospitals, Universities and Not-For-Profits.

Please contact [email protected] or call 1-825-994-1542 if you are interested in working with Charlene.

Free Training and Updates