“Compassion fatigue, sometimes called caregiver burnout, is disrupting lives, upending careers, and tearing families apart. It’s one of the most pervasive and least discussed problems faced by anyone in a heart-based role, whether a care-centered profession or an unpaid family caregiver.

Peter Dudley and Antoinette LeCouteur bring together 17 experts from a variety of professions, backgrounds, and cultures to share their wisdom and hard-earned advice for overcoming compassion fatigue in RELIT: How to Rekindle Yourself in the Darkness of Compassion Fatigue, available November 13th.

Each of the experts in the book tells a personal story of the devastating effects they’ve suffered from compassion fatigue and the lessons they learned from conquering it, recovering, and growing stronger.

Peter writes of his his own experience as the father of a transgender teen who struggled with suicidal depression, and how that experience helps him in his role as a professional life and leadership coach. His partner, Antoinette, writes of suddenly having to learn to be the caregiver for her 89-year-old mother who fell, broke a bone, and was subsequently diagnosed with dementia.

The other experts come from a variety of careers—the veterinarian who specializes in home pet euthanasia and runs an animal sanctuary; the CEO of a national health equity nonprofit; the lawyer who was a cancer caregiver to both her parents in her 20s and who now specializes in family caregiving law; the widower who saw his wife through terminal cancer; the mental health practitioner turned suicide prevention expert after her brother died by suicide; and many more.

Early readers have called the book a “must read for anyone in a caring profession” and “our instruction manual” for learning useful, actionable techniques for self-compassion. It’s “a roadmap for rediscovering hope, energy, and joy in the face of burnout.”

Peter and Antoinette created this book because of the lack of relevant, actionable, and useful advice on how to manage yourself while caring for others. It was the book they needed but could not find when they were going through it themselves.

This is Peter’s first publication as editor of an anthology, and the first anthology from his imprint, Gray Bear Publications. The book will be available November 13th, 2024 from Gray Bear Publications. A virtual launch party is also planned for November 13th. Find out more about the book, the launch party, and how to pre-order at the Gray Bear Publications website, Facebook, Instagram