Self-Care 4: Self-Care Assessment & Reflection

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By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

 

This blog, the fourth in a five-part series, focuses on a self-assessment tool that can be used by individual youth workers or as a group exercise. Download this Self-Care Assessment/ Reflection tool for assessing self-care practices. This blog is also an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

This tool is not exhaustive, merely suggestive. Feel free to add areas of self-care that are relevant for you and rate yourself on how often and how well you are taking care of yourself these days. When you are finished, look for patterns in your responses. Are you more active in some areas of self-care but ignore others? Are there items on the list that make you think, "I would never do that"? Listen to your inner responses, your internal dialogue about self-care and making yourself a priority. Take particular note of anything you would like to include more in your life. 

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After completing this assessment, staff members can pair up and exchange their assessment with their partner. They can discuss with the entire group and share their thoughts after reviewing their partner’s assessment. 

Self-Care 3: How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

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By Sam Piha

 

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

 

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. In this post we explore how we can prevent youth worker burnout. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

“According to several studies, 21—67% of practitioners who provide psycho-emotional support in their fields have experienced high levels of burnout. This is because the nature of the work is one where ‘there’s a lot of use of self, which means that our emotional state comes into play in our connection and relationship with our client.’” [i] - Amos Ng, Outreach & Intervention Services at Trybe. 

According to Project GROW, “Youth workers told us that the need they see is so great, and often so urgent, that they ignore their own needs in order to meet those of others. Equally, the needs of vulnerable girls can seem so significant that it is easy to dismiss the needs and trials of fellow youth workers, whether staff or volunteers, as they seem insignificant in comparison. As youth workers, we can silence our own needs, and each other. This stoicism can lead to burnout, which does not serve our communities long term. Good youth workers will always be hard to find, and we need to ensure that the mental and physical health of these essential workers. Burnout makes a sustained approach to youth projects much more difficult. Yet even more significantly, it gives the girls we work with the idea that as women, our needs are not important. This creates a detrimental effect, as rather than learning the value of their worth though youth project, girls may internalize the idea that burnout is normal and struggle to advocate for their needs and rights in their families, communities and workplaces. As youth workers, we need to lead by example. 

Burnout can happen to all of us — and the more we care, the more we can set ourselves up to be unable to care anymore. This is especially so if we are working with young women and girls who are living in distressing conditions, or who tell us about traumas they have suffered. From hearing about others’ experiences, or witnessing bad things happening to others, we can become traumatized ourselves. Vicarious and secondary trauma are real, and don’t simply happen to us because we are ‘weak’ or ‘oversensitive’ Additionally, listening to many stories over time can lead to ‘empathy fatigue’. We can become de-sensitized. 

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Here are some of the symptoms of burnout for you to watch out for:

• Physical stress e.g. feeling tense, palpitations, stomach problems, headaches
• Emotional stress e.g. nightmares, flashbacks or anxiety, anger, racing thoughts, feeling jumpy or easily startled
• Exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, under pressure or powerless
• Needing sick days, feeling unable to rest or recharge
• Needing more time alone, away from others
• Feel disconnected from friends and family
• Losing a sense of self
• Loss of pleasure in daily activities
• Losing sense of purpose  

Here are some things that you can do to make sure you don’t burnout and lose the joy of your youth work: 

• Take regular breaks between work sessions, including to eat full meals and gain eight hours of sleep
• Set a regular schedule for yourself, and block out times when you will be available for calls, emails or meetings, and when you will not be available. Share these times with others you work with, so they are less likely to disturb you when you’re not working
• Be mindful of your own history of trauma, if you have one, and how this may impact you when listening to traumatic stories from youth you support
• Cultivate your own interests, hobbies and activities outside of youth work, even if it’s as simple as meeting a friend, taking a walk, or learning to cook a new meal
• Seek counseling if you feel you need it.” [ii] 

“Regularly disengaging from work to rest and focus on oneself has been shown to increase productivity, boost creativity and improve mental well-being, enabling practitioners to continue providing meaningful care and support for their clients.” [iii] 

END NOTES:

[i]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner

[ii]: Wonder Foundation, How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

[iii]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner

Self-Care 2: Creating a Self-Care Plan

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By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment.  

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

“Self-Care 2: Creating a Self-Care Plan” focuses on the steps needed to develop an individual self-care plan.

“A self-care plan is a guide that helps you promote your health and well-being by prioritizing yourself. It can include activities that help you stay fit and healthy, relax, and relieve stress. Self-care can be preventative or reactionary, and can benefit your physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual health.” [i]

“I didn’t realize how much I needed a break from my daily routine to learn and to recharge.” [ii] - Youth Worker

Kirsten Posluns and Terry Lynn Gall write, “Think of your self-care plan as a roadmap -- with planned vehicle maintenance, travel activities and rest stops along the way. Steps to guide you...Don't be overwhelmed by the steps in this process! They are simple and straightforward and will help to guide you on your path.” [iii]  

“There’s no one-size-fits-all self-care plan. Each of us has to develop our own plan because each of us has our own unique life history.” [iv] - Lisa Butler, PhD

To develop your self-care plan, you will identify what you value and need as part of your day-to-day life (maintenance self-care) and the strategies you can employ when or if you face a crisis along the way (emergency self-care). 

 “1. How do you cope now?

Identify what you do now to manage the stress in your life. The Lifestyle Behaviors and the Transcript of Lifestyle Behaviors, (“Is your life causing you stress?”) assessment can help you to identify the coping strategies you currently use and whether they are likely to be good (or not so good) for your well-being.

Decreasing or eliminating at least one “negative” coping strategy can be one of the goals of your maintenance self-care; employing more "positive" strategies can be another.

2. What do you do for self-care now?

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The Self-Care Assessment will help you highlight the good things you are already doing for yourself and whether there is an imbalance in the areas in which you practice self-care. The items in this assessment can also give you some ideas for additional things you may want to do in the future to help prevent stress and burnout and to maintain and enhance your well-being. Make a note of the items that you would like to add (or add more of) to your self-care practice. In considering this, try to be sure that each domain of self-care is well represented. If you think of things that are not included in this list, just add them at the end.

3. Maintenance self-care: Adding self-care practices and eliminating obstacles

“Do more of what makes you happy. That would seem to be a good place to start.” [v] - Lisa Butler, PhD

"Maintenance self-care" refers to the activities that you have identified as important to your well-being and that you have committed to engage in on a regular basis to take care of yourself. My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet and the Transcript of My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet provide an opportunity for you to identify the activities you would like to add to your self-care practice in each self-care domain (“new practice”). 

“The most important practices are to develop healthy habits, create clear boundaries, ask for and accept help, find ways to center yourself for peace, and manage perfectionist tendencies—to be aware of what you are humanly capable of. But each person will have to explore the path and practices that best suit their needs. de Saussure maintains calm through meditation, for example, but acknowledges that this practice may not be everyone’s preference. Other coping strategies might be activities such as writing in a journal, talking to a friend, or going for a run.” [vi] -  Jade de Saussure, MSW, OMC, continuing education program coordinator and program director of the Fordham CASAC (credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor).

It is also useful to identify possible barriers or obstacles that could get in the way of implementing and/or maintaining these new activities. Think about what you anticipate these barriers/obstacles to be (try to list at least 3 or 4 in the spaces provided), how you can address them, and how you can remind yourself to follow your plan. Write these solutions on the last page of the My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet. If you have chosen to limit or eliminate a negative coping strategy that you currently use, note this as well. You can revisit this topic and revise your list as the demands of your personal and professional life change. 

4. Emergency Self-Care: Be Prepared

So far we have focused on maintenance self-care: the kinds of things one does regularly to reduce stress and maintain and enhance well-being. But planning out what you would do under extremely trying circumstances, even though they are rare, is also important. To do this, develop a framework using your Emergency Self-Care worksheet before you are faced with a crisis or feel overwhelmed. Think of developing your emergency self-care plan in the way you would think about preparing for other possible emergency situations: it is important to figure out your plan in advance when you have the time, wherewithal, and concentration to do so effectively!

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5. Make a commitment to yourself

Remember: Just like the flight attendant says, you need to put on your own oxygen mask first before you can be of help to others. So, take a moment, think it over, and then make your personal commitment to your own self-care. You deserve it! If you find making a commitment to be a challenge, then take some time to explore your reservations. Do you have a tendency to put the needs of others first? The truth is that your self-care is not only essential to your well-being, but it is also a necessary element for you to be effective and successful in honoring your professional and personal commitments. Preparing a plan is important; it identifies your goals and the strategies to achieve them. However, your success in implementing your plan is ultimately based on the level of commitment you make to your self-care.

6. Share your plan

Once you have developed your plan and made your commitment, remember that friends, family, peers, and/or colleagues may be good additional resources for exchanging new self-care ideas/strategies and to provide support and encouragement. Consider taking your commitment a step further by joining or starting a support or discussion group (see Tips for Starting a Support or Discussion Group).

7. Follow your plan

“Start slow. Take baby steps and don’t feel flooded or overwhelmed by a long to-do list for self-care. Pick one thing and work on that to start.” [vii] - Lisa Wessan, LICSW 

“Now that you have completed the assessments and worksheets described above, you have identified the core elements of your personal Self-Care Plan. The final step is to implement your plan and keep track of how you are doing. Keeping track of your progress will help you recognize your successes and identify and address any difficulties you may not have anticipated. Don’t forget that you can revise your plan as needed. Remember, also, to employ your emergency plan should emotionally difficult circumstances arise.” [viii] Don’t Wait - Start Planning NOW! 

END NOTES

[i] Google AI, “Self-Care Plan Definition Prompt”
[ii] School Social Work Association of America, Nurturing the Nurturer: School Social Workers & Self-care
[iii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care
[iv] Kate Jackson, Social Worker Self-Care —  The Overlooked Core Competency
[v] IBID.
[vi] IBID.
[vii] IBID.
[viii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care

Self-Care 1: What is Self-Care?

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By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. 

“Self-Care 1: What is Self-Care” focuses on learning more about what is self-care and reviews the benefits and obstacles to self-care.  

“Youth work is a profession of the heart. Most people come into the field because they are dedicated to and passionate about making the lives of young people better. Those same motivations make self-care an important topic.” [i]

WHAT IS SELF-CARE? 

“The term self-care refers to activities and practices that we can engage in on a regular basis to reduce stress and maintain and enhance our short- and longer-term health and well-being.”—  University at Buffalo School of Social Work: Introduction to Self-Care

Most professionals in this line of work easily recognize the importance of taking care of young people in our communities, but unfortunately do not recognize the importance of taking care of ourselves until we are simply overwhelmed. This is why self-care should not be seen as a one-time or reactionary event, but rather part of our everyday maintenance and well-being.

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“Just like you do on a plane, you need to put on your first before trying to help others. ” [ii] - Dean Nancy Smyth

“Self-care as an ongoing practice is a method for not only preventing negative outcomes among mental health practitioners and their clients, but also appears to promote flourishing. This review of the literature suggests that fostering areas of self-care, including awareness, balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality can help prevent the downward spiral of stress, burnout, and professional impairment, and promote an upward spiral of well-being for mental health professionals.” [iii] 



BENEFITS OF SELF-CARE

According to University at Buffalo School of Social Work, “Practicing self-care will help you:

• Identify and manage the general challenges that all hard-working professionals face, such as the potential for stress and burnout or interpersonal difficulties.
• Be aware of your own personal vulnerabilities, such as the potential for re-traumatization (if you have a trauma history), vicarious or secondary traumatization (if you work with individuals who report their own traumatic experiences), and compassion fatigue (which you can develop from a combination of burnout and vicarious traumatization). 
• Achieve more balance in your life, by maintaining and enhancing the attention you pay to the different domains of your life in a way that makes sense to you.

Self-care is about enhancing your overall well-being. There are common aims to almost all self-care efforts:

• Taking care of physical and psychological health
• Managing and reducing stress
• Honoring emotional and spiritual needs
• Fostering and sustaining relationships
• Achieving an equilibrium across one’s personal, school, and work lives

“Each of us may differ in the domains we emphasize and the balance we seek among them. Each life is unique and has its own unique demands. Consequently, we each must determine what self-care means for us and how to apply it in our life.” [iv] 

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OBSTACLES TO SELF-CARE
Myths About Self-Care 

There are many myths about self-care and work-related stress that show up as obstacles to addressing these issues. Below are some common myths about self-care.

 

“Youth workers ‘fail to practice self-care because they become wrapped up in a state of mind that suggests that they need to work nonstop. They view self-care as an activity that they don’t have time for.’” [v] - Kathy Cox and Sue Steiner  

Among the obstacles experts identify as standing in the way of self-care are a lack of energy, too many responsibilities, and the fear of appearing weak or vulnerable.

“Begin to implement changes, even very small ones, to take care of yourself.” [vi] - Lisa Butler, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo School of Social Work

Among the obstacles experts identify as standing in the way of self-care are a lack of energy, too many responsibilities, and the fear of appearing weak or vulnerable.

END NOTES:

[i] Act for Youth, Self-Care for Youth Development Professionals
[ii] University at Buffalo School of Social Work, Introduction to Self-Care
[iii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care
[iv] IBID.
[v] IBID.
[vi] Kate Jackson, Social Worker Self-Care —  The Overlooked Core Competency