2026-05-13 You Are Not Burning Out Because You Care Too Much: The Neuroscience of Compassion and a Practical Path Forward for Acute Care Therapists
Includes a Live Web Event on 05/13/2026 at 7:00 PM (EDT)
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Register
- Physical Therapist (PT) - Free!
- Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) - Free!
- Student PT/PTA (STU) - Free!
- Partner - Free!
- LMS User - $25
Burnout among rehabilitation professionals has reached crisis-level prevalence, yet the dominant cultural narrative gets the cause wrong. This session challenges the assumption that caring deeply is the problem and replaces it with a neuroscience-based distinction that changes everything: the difference between empathy and compassion. Participants will learn to recognize Occupational Distress Syndrome as a measurable dysfunction of the human well-being system itself, mapped precisely onto the six dimensions of Ryff's eudaimonic well-being model. They will leave with a concrete, evidence-supported, four-minute daily practice shown in randomized controlled trials to reduce burnout in comparable clinical populations, and the conceptual framework to understand why it works.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Distinguish between empathy and compassion as neurologically distinct processes and explain why that distinction determines burnout risk in high-acuity clinical environments.
2. Describe Occupational Distress Syndrome as a dysfunction of the human well-being system, identifying which of Ryff's six eudaimonic dimensions (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance) are most directly impaired by chronic occupational distress in acute care rehabilitation practice.
3. Identify the primary causal pathways through which Occupational Distress Syndrome accumulates in rehabilitation therapy staff, including empathic distress, demand-resource imbalance, and unanswered occupational calling, and connect each pathway to its corresponding well-being system disruption.
4. Summarize the current evidence base supporting Loving-Kindness Meditation as a feasible, brief, and high-leverage intervention for burnout reduction, with particular attention to its mechanism of action on Ryff's dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relations, and purpose in life.
5. Demonstrate a brief, structured Loving-Kindness Meditation practice suitable for independent use within the scheduling constraints of an acute care setting.
Not an APTA Acute Care member and want to register? Create a free LMS user account here - https://academy.aptaacutecare....
Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu
Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu has been a practicing physical therapist for over 35 years.
He began his career after earning his master’s degree in 1990 and has since worked across virtually every clinical setting you can imagine, including acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health, outpatient orthopedics, and pediatrics.
He went on to earn his Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2007.
Dr. L’HommeDieu is also a certified Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialist, a wellness coach, and a Certified Age in Place Specialist. He recently completed the Harvard Bok Higher Education Teaching Certificate and is currently finishing his Doctorate in Healthcare Education and Leadership at Nebraska Methodist College.
His doctoral research focuses on how compassion training can reduce burnout and improve well-being in healthcare professionals, which is a topic that could not be more timely or more important.
He is also the owner of a rehabilitation staffing company, giving him a rare perspective that bridges both clinical practice and the business realities of healthcare.
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