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