Spirituality, Mindfulness, and Art-Making in Mitigating Compassion Fatigue

This study is an art exploration of the combined use of mindfulness practice, cultivated through a body-scan meditation, and art-making in mitigating compassion fatigue for a beginning clinician. The researcher used an arts-based inquiry with a quantitative component in her data collection and analysis. A reliable, evidenced-based test was self-administered at the beginning and end of the data collection to measure compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. The arts-based inquiry included the researcher engaging in a body-scan meditation, journaling, and art-making over a period of four weeks as methods to process the relationship between mindfulness practice, art-making practice, and compassion fatigue in her clinical work at a community based mental health agency. The body-scan meditation provided insight into the clinician’s experiences and conceptual understandings. Journaling provided a tool for reflection and analysis of the researcher’s engagement in mindfulness and art-making. The art-making process offered a more in-depth understanding of the researcher’s application of mindfulness, as a tool, in clinical practice with her clients. The One-Canvas Process Painting can be utilized as a tool to reflect the researcher’s transformative learning process about her countertransference with clients. The data analysis in this study indicates that engaging in mindfulness practice and art-making practice can increase a beginning clinician’s compassion satisfaction within her clinical work.