International Self-Care Day!

Today, July 24th is International Self-Care Day – a day that acknowledges the importance of prioritizing the mental and physical health and wellbeing among various health care professionals. Combining professional and educational duties along with the unexpressed grief and emotional energy required for patient encounters and managing one’s personal life can lead to the development of professional burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization, as well as create an imbalanced professional quality of life (Stamm, 2002). In particular, an estimated 15% to 50% of health care workers whom treat survivors with traumatic or catastrophic injuries will experience a traumatic stress response throughout their lives (Bride, 2007). This phenomenon of stress resulting from exposure to a traumatized individual is called compassion fatigue. Suggesting that this exposure negatively impacts a professional’s mental and physical health, safety and wellbeing, as well as that of their families, the people they care for, and their employing organizations (Figley, 1995).

Thus, it is important to have a self-care plan BEFORE we start working with traumatized clients. 

When considering the ways in which health care professionals can actively engage in self-care strategies and prevent burnout, they must be aware of their own mental state. As professionals, “we are most vulnerable to compassion fatigue or vicarious traumatization when we are unaware of the state of our own body and mind” (Rothschild & Rand, 2006). A simple way of practicing self-care is through the process of meditation. Setting aside a few moments each day to focus on taking deep breaths, generate positive thoughts, relax the mind, and reduce stress is a great way for an individual to achieve the benefits of self-care and create a deeper mind-body connection. In fact, research demonstrates that mindful meditation interventions can effectively benefit both clinical and nonclinical populations who struggle with burnout, stress, job dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and diminished professional effectiveness (Shapiro, Astin, Bishop & Cordova, 2005); as well as enhance the development of empathy, attention, equanimity and presence (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006).

Similar to addressing strategies for one’s mental state, we must also develop proper coping strategies to aid with the emotional contagion intertwined in one’s own psyche, as a result of working with traumatized clients. A study looking at the relationship between the traumatic stress response and job-related psychological withdrawal of 10 pediatric social workers, found that countertransference and poor coping strategies were the precursors for professional burnout (Dane, 2000). Thus, when working with traumatized clients, clinicians should monitor their somatic experiences by developing functional skills in which they can pay attention to their body posture, facial expressions, muscle tensions, breathing patterns, and other bodily sensations (Sansubury, Graves, & Scott, 2015). Self-care also involves finding time for oneself, knowing one’s limits and maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional life, as well as engaging in self-reflection, participating in peer support groups or colleague assistance programs and seeking personal psychotherapy when needed (Barnett, 2014).

Another technique to include in your self-care plan is to attend to the physical body by developing a list of activities that you find personally rewarding and can serve as stress reduction strategies. According to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, adults between the ages of 18-64 should be engaging in at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous aerobic physical activity per week, in bouts of 10 minutes or more. Individuals can benefit from weekly practices like attending a yoga class, going for a run, working out, or enjoying a night dancing with friends. Unfortunately, the most common barrier to a physical activity routine is the lack of time – with work, family obligations, and other realities of daily life often taking precedent (AHA, 2018). However, moving your body daily doesn’t have to be a separate event if you are prepared and motivated to change. A few methods to get started with your self-care plan include: inquiring about physical activity groups/classes at your place of employment, parking your vehicle further away when at work or the grocery store, setting a time to go for routine walks with a spouse or friend, and/or biking to work; additionally, capturing your progress through the use of wearable devices such as smart watches, pedometers or accelerometers.

Conclusion

Not only does self-care foster holistic healing, it also creates an environment that health care professionals can feel supported and emotionally stable in. Undoubtedly, those whom choose to work with individuals that have experienced traumatic or catastrophic injuries are a special breed – but it they are not invincible. I hope you are able to use the strategies provided in this article to enable an effective self-care plan that is unique to your interests and allows you to prevent and mitigate the potential of professional burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization, as well as create a balanced professional quality of life.

“Self-care is giving the world the best of you instead of what’s left of you”– Katie Reed

Cassandra

Resources: 

American Heart Association. (2018). Breaking down barriers to fitness. Retrieved from  https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/getting-active/breaking-down-barriers-to-fitness 

Barnett, J. (2014). Distress, burnout, self-care, and the promotion of wellness for psychotherapists and trainees: Issues, implications, and recommendations. Retrieved from http://www.societyforpsychotherapy.org/distress-therapist-burnout-self-care-promotion-wellness-psychotherapists-trainees-issues-implications-recommendations

Bride, B. E. (2007). Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among social workers. Social Work  52(1), 63–70. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/52.1.63

Dane, B. (2006). Child welfare workers: an innovative approach to interacting with secondary trauma. Journal of Social Work Education 36(1): 27–38.

Figley, C.R. (1995). Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In C.R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Rothschild, B., Rand, M. (2006). Help for the helper: self-care strategies for managing burnout and stress. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, p. 103.

Sansubury, B. S., Graves, K., & Scott, W. (2015). Managing traumatic stress responses among clinicians: Individual and organizational tools for self-care. Trauma 17(2), 114-122.

Shapiro, S. L., Astin, J. A., Bishop, S. R., & Cordova, M. (2005). Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction for health care professionals: Results from a randomized trial. International Journal of Stress Management 12(2), 164-176.

Stamm, B.H. (2002). Measuring compassion satisfaction as well as fatigue: Developmental history of the Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue Test. C.R. Figley (Ed.), Treating compassion fatigue, Brunner-Rutledge, New York, pp. 107-119

Walsh, R., & Shapiro, S. L. (2006). The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist 61(3), 227- 239.