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Social Work is a helping profession that strives to help the community on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. It is an investment of self to offer services and help to those in need. Areas of service can include, but are not limited to, traumatic situations, family situations, and child protection. As in most social service professions, the field of social work can often times take a toll on the emotional and physical stability of a social worker. One side effect from working in a helping profession is compassion fatigue. As a result, the National Association of Social Workers stresses the importance of self-care and its vitality in ensuring the social worker does not get burnt out by the profession. Self-care is a very important asset in the social work profession. The physical and emotional demands of the social work profession and the day-to-day giving of self to clients can take its toll on a social worker. Self-care in social work is a significant topic because according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2010 census, more than 650,500 social workers are currently employed in the United States and of those, 31% work with mental health while 20% work with children (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Working in those areas of the social work system can cause a higher rate of compassion fatigue than other areas because of the serious situations dealt with and the awareness that sometimes patients do not get better. Compassion fatigue is defined by some as, “the reduced capacity in being empathic, bearing the suffering of clients, and having emotions that result from knowing about a traumatic event that is suffered by a person” (Figley, 1995, p. 7). Compassion fatigue can cause certain challenges for a professional social worker.... ... middle of paper ... ...ompassion fatigue and assist in avoiding any ethical issues within my practice. References Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012- 13 Edition, Social Workers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and- social-service/social-workers.htm (visited December 09, 2013). Figley CR. Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In: Figley CR, editor. Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Brunner-Routledge; New York: 1995. pp. 1–20. Ginter, C. (n.d.). Compassion: Opportunities and Challenges. Compassion Fatigue. Retrieved December 9, 2013, from http://www.compassionfatigue.org/pages/solutionsource.pdf NASW Delegate Assembly, Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (Silver Spring, MD: NASW, 2008).