Self Care For Mental Health Workers – When you think of “self care”, what do you see in your mind? Is it a bubble bath with candlelight, relaxing music playing softly? Perhaps you are thinking of a relaxing massage or spa day?
These types of things are helpful for stress relief, if you have access to them, but they don’t paint the face of proper self-care.
Self Care For Mental Health Workers
Self-care is not something that requires access to expensive services. It’s nothing fancy. It is an important habit to maintain mental and physical health, and it needs daily attention.
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“Self-care requires taking care of your emotional and physical needs,” says Cheryl Crowe, vice president of Behavioral Health, OSF Health Care. “You have to look at all aspects of your life to take care of yourself.”
Self-care includes the way you eat, your work, your sleep and your social life. It is broad. So, what do you need to know to start your self-care journey? Here are some basics to help you understand just how much self-care is involved.
A nutritious diet rich in vegetables, fruits and lean protein provides the fuel your body needs to function at its most efficient level. You want to have enough energy to live an active life.
Cheryl said, “Maintain a healthy routine, exercise and walk outside – nature is good for the soul.”
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The trick to doing this job, and getting the most out of it, is to find jobs that you love. If you hate going to the gym, don’t force yourself to go to the gym.
Your body and mind need rest to recover and recover after each day. Get healthy sleep to give yourself energy for the day – not too little and not too much, usually 7-9 hours.
“There are things like a shower in there. It’s one tool in the toolbox for stress relief,” Cheryl said. “Our society is moving forward anyway, but we need to take a moment and check our stress levels.”
Working and being productive can be great for your emotional health, but how you spend that time is important.
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“Make time for the things that make you happy,” says Cheryl. “Life can’t just check boxes like enough sleep and food.”
“Pay attention. What does your body need? What do you need emotionally? “If you get to the point where your stress is at a level you can’t control, or you’re dealing with some stress, it’s time to reach out to a professional for some help,” said Cheryl. a counselor to start a conversation and make a plan.” Behavioral health professionals dedicate their careers to helping others. They help their patients identify harmful behaviors and mindsets, manage stress, and lead healthier lives. But, that doesn’t mean counselors are less vulnerable to depression. Nearly half of mental health professionals report experiencing some degree of burnout.
Now, in the midst of a global pandemic, levels of uncertainty, anxiety and burnout are rising for many. Behavioral health professionals are an excellent resource for people struggling with these feelings, but therapists need to take time for themselves to do their jobs and maintain their mental health. Take a moment to consider the importance of self-care for health professionals.
If you don’t take care of your own needs, taking care of others becomes almost impossible. When your physical or mental health or both are under stress, it will interfere with your ability to fulfill your responsibilities as a behavioral health professional. Self-care, which you may encourage your patients to embrace, is about taking care of your own needs in order to live a balanced life. You don’t need to put your health on the backburner. If you do, you may have difficulty doing your job.
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How do you find that balance? You’ve probably heard of a theory of motivation: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Although experts still debate the theory, it can help to keep the five levels of that field in mind when considering your recovery. You will often see Maslow’s Hierarchy displayed in the form of a pyramid.
Whether or not you fully accept Maslow’s Hierarchy as a theory, it says something powerful about self-care. Feel free to create a custom hierarchy for your needs, but one thing is for sure. You have a life outside of work, and taking care of yourself helps your general, mental and physical health. When you feel well, you have the energy and resources to help care for others.
Burns can affect anyone at any age. This state of constant stress, characterized by a lack of mental and physical energy, can be difficult to recognize on its own. After all, you have learned to deal with problems, to differentiate and to perform basic tasks. With the ongoing global pandemic and continued anxiety about an uncertain future, burnout at this time would not be surprising. Are you suffering from this condition?
It may be obvious that you feel overwhelmed and unable to handle all of your responsibilities, even though you are improving every day. Or, it can be elaborated. Maybe you think you are doing well because you don’t take the time to think otherwise. Ask yourself:
What Is Self Care?
A yes answer to any of these questions could indicate burnout. Take the time to honestly examine your feelings and decide if you are burned out or headed in that direction. Burnout can be a difficult phase to break. First, you need to admit that you are struggling.
Burnout affects you and your customers. If you are tired and emotionally drained every day, burnout can lead to consequences such as compassion fatigue and poor health judgment. If you are dealing with burnout, be kind to yourself, and remember that self-care is as important to psychologists as self-care is to patients.
You probably know every self-care trick in the book when it comes to talking to your patients, but it can be hard to step back and see how helpful self-care is for healthcare professionals as well. As a behavioral health professional, keep the following in mind.
Stress and anxiety are inevitable in everyday life and may increase during a pandemic. You always need to handle situations beyond your control. Although you cannot eliminate stress, you can identify its source, find ways to reduce stress at its source, and moderate your response.
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No matter where you work, find ways to find balance. Set aside some time each day to relax and put work aside. Awareness campaigns can play an important role in achieving this goal. If you work from home, try to create a separate work space for yourself, whether you have a home office room or a corner of the space other than where you rest and sleep.
Burnout is a common problem that people face in their personal and professional lives. As a behavioral health professional, you probably talk to many patients about this feeling and how it affects them. Don’t forget that you can also be at risk of burns. Practice self-care and think about how you can use different tools to manage your stress and live a balanced life. Your mental health is also important. Browse the blog to learn various management tips to help you manage your professional life.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn how to manage the use of cookies. OK When Tess Kearns began to forget familiar faces and was only able to manage her daily tasks with a to-do list – which she kept losing sight of – she knew something was wrong.
Fortunately, the cause was not an underlying physical condition; rather, it was a movement. Tess was close to burning.
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Managing two children, starting a new business, learning more skills, and keeping up with mortgage payments was overwhelming.
Irritability, drinking to feel better, trouble sleeping, headaches, and lack of energy are all early signs of weight loss (Salvagioni et al., 2017).
The Mayo Clinic defines burnout as physical and mental exhaustion, often associated with a loss of self-esteem and a sense of worthlessness.
In this article, we explore a health tool that can help you regain control and focus in your busy life. The Self-Care Wheel is a great psychological science tool to support a balanced life while increasing energy.
Hierarchical Multiple Regression Of Self Care Predicting Mental Health…
Before you read on, we thought you could download three free Practice Tests. These detailed, science-based exercises will not only help you increase the kindness and compassion you show, but will also give you tools to help your clients, students, or employees. be kind to yourself.
Research over the past two decades has confirmed the severe impact of our failure to manage the situations we find ourselves in.
Self-care can help, but it must be planned, shared, and practiced (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 2000; Windey, Craft, & Mitchell, 2019).
Health is about maintaining mental and physical fitness and having enough energy to meet work and personal commitments. The Global Wellness Institute (n.d.) explains it