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After reading the resources it was very eye-opening to gain a better understanding of burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma. The counselor has an important job of helping the mental health of others, but oftentimes they pay the price for the support they give. Gaining a greater understanding of compassion fatigue and the symptoms which an individual can experience is profound. For a counselor to experience reactions associated with PTSD all because they are doing their job is overwhelming for me to think about. Due to the profound negative effects that counselors can experience, it is extremely important for counseling professionals to partake in self-care and create solid boundaries for their work life.

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I believe that self-care is important for many different reasons, but the most importantly so that you don't lose who you are. Through burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma a counseling professional is likely to have changes that occur in their personality, personal relationships, working relationships, etc. To allow your job to take this large of a toll on your life is a very gut-wrenching experience. If the use of self-care can help the helping profession continue to be great at their job as well as reach their full potential in all aspects of their life, then we have to make sure that we are getting the self-care needed and deserved.

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Making time for my own self-care is something I struggle with. I wear many different hats, and sometimes I feel like I am pulled from all directions. As I get further into my graduate studies for school counseling I see the importance of self-care. One strategy that I try to stand by is making sleep a priority. There are always things that need to be done for work, my family, school, or a variety of other things, so I just have to make myself put all of that aside and go to sleep by 10. When I do this, I have less anxiety, stress, and overall feel better physically and mentally. Another self-care strategy I can use is creating boundaries and knowing that saying no is okay. I normally will not say not to very many things that are asked of me, but I am currently in a different season of life. I have to take a step back sometimes and think about all that is really being asked of me, and if I have the mental, emotional, and physical capacity to agree to what is being asked of me. If the answer is yes, and it will not add to my stress or anxiety then great. If the answer is no, this is asking more than I can give right now, then I have to learn that is okay too!