Table of Contents
What is self-care for psychologists?
Self-care has been defined as providing adequate attention to one’s own physical and psychological wellness (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001). Beyond being an aspirational goal, engaging in self-care has been described as an ethical imperative (Norcross & Barnett, 2008) and is part of the APA’s Ethics Code (2002). Each method of self-care fits into one of the seven pillars: mental, emotional, physical, environmental, spiritual, recreational, and social. A well-balanced self-care routine involves each of these, so avoid restricting yourself to just one or two pillars. Professional self-care means using habits, processes, systems, and communities to make your work life sustainable. It’s not glamorous—it’s usually a lot of debriefing yourself after crises and creating battle plans for later—but it’s a vital, ever-evolving part of creating work-life balance and boundaries. Engaging in a self-care routine has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, improve concentration, minimize frustration and anger, increase happiness, improve energy, and more. Ethical Principles of Self-Care in Practice Respect for the dignity and worth of self: A violation lowers your integrity and trust. Responsibility of self-care: Ultimately it is your responsibility to take care of yourself—and no situation or person can justify neglecting this duty. Namely, there are 8 main areas of self-care: physical, psychological, emotional, social, professional, environmental, spiritual, and financial.
What is the importance of self-care as a therapist?
Licensed professional counselors emphasize the importance of practicing self-care to their clients because it enables them to assess their own needs, manage stress better, and employ healthy coping mechanisms. For these same reasons, it’s equally as important for counselors to practice self-care as well. Without attending to our own care, we will not be able to help others and prevent harm to them. Psychotherapist self-care is a critical prerequisite for patient care. In other words, self-care is not only a personal matter but also an ethical necessity, a moral imperative (Barnett et al., 2006; Wise et al., 2012). 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 (Wise et al. 2012). Resources to help physicians practice physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self-care within a demanding, patient-centric healthcare system. “Self-care” means taking action to preserve or improve your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellness. Self-care includes all the things you do to take care of your well-being in four key dimensions – your emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Self-care is important. It’s how we, as individuals, can take charge of our own health. It’s proven to make us feel good, it boosts our confidence, and prevents future health problems.
What does self-care mean in mental health?
The concept of self-care can be different from person to person, but on a fundamental level, practicing self-care means taking care of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally. Taking care of your mental well-being may not be as cut and dry as attending to the physical needs of food, hydration and hygiene. WHO’s definition of self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote their own health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker. Below are several examples of how you can nurture yourself and make self-renewal a part of your everyday life in the four areas of self-care: physical, emotional, spiritual and mental. Paying attention to your own physical and emotional health enables you to handle the challenges of supporting and caring for others. Maintaining physical and mental health makes one more resilient, able to weather hard times and enjoy the good ones.