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