Existing models of service are often based on a savior complex. This implies that workers have a need to rescue their clients, that they must suffer to do so, and that their clients have no hope without them. Some symptoms of this complex include: job burnout, inferior pay, excessive hours that are not compensated, stress, and being undervalued by their administrators, the communities that they serve, and the general public.

The most critical components of social change and true healing are empowerment and self-empowerment. This is currently being explored in the medical world, comparing allopathic and holistic models of care. In the traditional medical model, patients are often passive, handing over their personal power to the assumed authority of the physician. They do not take responsibility for their own healing, relying instead on an outside agent to fix their symptoms. The medical world also has a tendency to focus on symptoms and not address the root cause of a patient’s complaint. Alternative healing modalities support a dramatic shift from the traditional medical model. The holistic model encourages patients to be responsible for their own healing, to trust themselves, and to know their body has its own wisdom. This model speaks to the truth around an individual’s innate healing system so that root causes of illness are addressed and healed. This can only be successful when people are truly empowered to create lasting changes in their own lives. The shift of power from the physician to the patient (or from the human services worker to the client) changes the understanding of who they are, what their natural gifts are, and their own unique place in the world.

We are seeking to bring this holistic model of self-healing and empowerment to the human services field. Professional caregivers working within current models of service suffer alarming rates of burnout or “compassion fatigue”. A contributing factor to compassion fatigue is the feeling of failure that human service workers can experience when their clients are not responding to their support or intervention. This can create cynicism and blame toward clients, and hopelessness and worthlessness toward themselves. They become depleted and ineffective. With this dynamic in play, human services is not a sustainable field. Organizations suffer by losing veteran workers who offer an expertise of the field and consistency for the clients.