About Me

Compassion fatigue and burnout that destroys caring professionals from the inside out is not an inevitable cost of helping others - it's a treatable condition with evidence-based solutions. Eric Gentry has spent over 35 years revolutionising how we understand and treat secondary traumatic stress, becoming the world's leading authority on compassion fatigue recovery and prevention.

As President and CEO of The Forward-Facing® Institute and former Co-Director of the International Traumatology Institute at the University of South Florida, Dr. Gentry studied under Professor Charles Figley, the pioneer who first identified compassion fatigue. In 1997, he co-developed the Accelerated Recovery Program (ARP) for Compassion Fatigue - the world's only evidence-based treatment protocol for this condition. His critically acclaimed book Trauma Practice: Tools for Stabilization and Recovery (now in its third edition) and groundbreaking Forward-Facing® Trauma Therapy: Healing the Moral Wound represent paradigm shifts in trauma treatment for the 21st century.

Dr. Gentry's expertise spans traumatic stress treatment, Complex PTSD, compassion fatigue, professional resilience, personality disorders, dissociation, and disaster response. His revolutionary Forward-Facing® approach moves beyond traditional trauma processing to help clients and professionals develop genuine resilience. Having trained over 100,000 health professionals in 20+ years, he specialises in helping caregivers who are burning out, experiencing secondary trauma, or struggling with the moral injury of witnessing suffering they cannot prevent.

What sets his training apart is real-world disaster experience. Gentry doesn't just teach theory - he has provided direct intervention following the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 Ground Zero response, and multiple Florida hurricanes. His work with the FBI, Federal Marshals, and major disaster relief organisations gives him unmatched insight into how trauma affects those who respond to humanity's worst moments.

For your practice, expect to gain specific protocols for treating compassion fatigue, tools for building genuine professional resilience, and frameworks for transforming secondary trauma into post-traumatic growth. His approach particularly benefits clinicians experiencing burnout, administrators supporting trauma-exposed teams, or practitioners working with first responders and disaster survivors.

Quick Win: Gentry's "perceptual shift" technique helps burned-out professionals immediately distinguish between empathy (healing) and emotional contagion (harmful) - often restoring their sense of professional effectiveness in a single session.

Qualifications

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Florida State University (studied with Professor Charles Figley)
• M.A., Counseling, West Virginia University
• Certificate of Advanced Study, Psychotraumatology, West Virginia University
• Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Florida
• Diplomate, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (DAAETS)
• Master Traumatologist, Certified Traumatic Stress Specialist (CTS)
• 35+ years clinical experience

Authored Books

• Forward-Facing® Trauma Therapy: Healing the Moral Wound
• Trauma Practice: Tools for Stabilization and Recovery (2005, co-author, 3rd edition 2015, critically acclaimed)
• Forward-Facing® Professional Resilience: Resolution and Prevention of Burnout, Toxic Stress and Compassion Fatigue (co-author)
• Transformative Care: A Trauma-Focused Approach to Caregiving (co-author)
• Unlocking the Keys to Human Resilience (co-author)

Teaching & Roles

• President & CEO, The Forward-Facing® Institute, Phoenix, AZ, 2020–present
• Owner, Compassion Unlimited, Phoenix, AZ (private practice, training, consulting), current
• Director of Training, Corporate Crisis Management Inc., current
• Co-Director, International Traumatology Institute, University of South Florida, 2001–2010
• Associate Director & Original Faculty, Traumatology Institute, Florida State University

Professional Leadership

• Vice-President & Founding Board Member, International Association of Trauma Professionals (IATP), 2010
• Co-founder & Co-developer, Community Crisis Support Team of Hillsborough County, FL
• Clinical Member, Several Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) teams

Training & Disaster Response

• Trained over 100,000 health professionals over 20+ years
• Training services: FBI, Federal Marshals, Project Heartland (Oklahoma City), Ground Zero Temporary Mortuary (NYC)
• Disaster response: Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, Florida hurricanes
• International keynote speaker and workshop facilitator worldwide
• Curriculum designer for award-winning traumatology training programs

Ready to transform compassion fatigue into sustainable resilience? Discover how Dr. Gentry's evidence-based methods can help professionals and organisations build genuine immunity to secondary trauma while maintaining their caring capacity.