Resource List: Staff Wellness in Museums
As a companion to my paper “Museum Empathy and Compassion Fatigue: How Museums can Support Staff Wellness” (available to read online here) I’ve put together a brief list of some great resources that I’ve found while working on this topic. The resources might offer you a chance to explore what compassion fatigue means a bit more deeply, and how it might manifest in a museum setting, and some steps to take to think about how to help yourself and your staff along this journey. Most are accessible online and free of charge.
If you have any additional resources, please share them in the comments, or send me a message. If your museum is doing anything to support wellness for staff and volunteers, I would absolutely love to hear about that!
“Revisiting Artifacts and their Histories: The Trauma of Objects and the Holocaust” by Nils Roemer
“The Curio Project” is a great website that collects the stories of “things.” It’s a fascinating journey through the stories and lives that give meaning to object, and an exploration in material culture. This particular article takes a deeper look about the emotional weight that objects from the holocaust carry through time, and what it means to hold them and care for them.
“Engaging with Empathy: Staff Support for Emotionally-Charged Exhibitions” by Lacy Leberthal
Lacey’s writing in a 2018 issue of Museum Scholar: Theory and Practice considers options for museums who would like to provide additional support for exhibits that require emotional investment.
Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project
Learn more about what compassion fatigue is, its symptoms, and ways to combat it, both on your own and in your workplace. A valuable resource for anyone wanting to learn more about this topic.
Objective Lessons: Self Care for Museum Workers by Seema Rao
Seema has been doing a lot of truly amazing work in the field of self-care for museum workers. This book is a self-guided tour through mindfulness specifically designed for people in the museum industry. Do it yourself with a glass of wine, or make it a shared activity with colleagues.
Available for purchase through most major retailers. But you can purchase online directly from Seema’s consultancy company, Brilliant Idea Studio.
Self-Care for Museum Professions with Seema Rao
In this video recording from a 2020 AAM conference, Seema dives into things that people can do to develop and honor self care rituals, and how this can foster a more productive and creative work environment.
“I Used To Lead Tours at a Plantation. You Won’t Believe the Questions I Got About Slavery” by Margaret Biser
Margaret Biser describes her experiences working as a tour guide at a former southern plantation. Her stories provide context for understanding how retelling these stories carries an emotional weight that needs to be addressed. It also contextualizes the day-to-day comments and questions that can make interpretation work challenging for guides and docents when they are working with contentious history topics.
The Empathetic Museum
What is an empathetic museum? And what does working in one mean for us as museum professionals? This website explores how museums can engage with empathy on a higher level. There are many resources throughout the website that talk about how to incorporate empathy into exhibits and practice.
Visit online
“Working with Traumatic Material: Effects on Holocaust Memorial Museum Staff” by James E. McCarroll, et.al.
Unfortunately this one is not easily available online, but it’s one I feel is still very valuable to read if you can get your hands on it. This article published in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry gives an in-depth look at the work the US Holocaust Memorial Museum did prior to their opening, in terms of building a framework of support, and understanding how emotional and mental resiliency can impact the work at the museum.
Please check your libraries (public or academic!) for access to this article. Full citation below.
McCarroll, James E., et al. “Working With Traumatic Material: Effects on Holocaust Memorial Museum Staff.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 65, no. 1, Jan. 1995, pp. 66–75. EBCSOhost, doi:10.1037/h0079595.