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After reviewing the resources on burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma, one of the biggest take-aways for me was how compassion fatigue and secondary trauma occur and how, in many instances, it is unavoidable when the student population you might work with all have their own traumas and personal challenges. In a role such as counseling, it is inevitable that we would be exposed to numerous situations where our students suffering would impact us deeply as well. Prior to this course, I hadn't ever heard the terms "compassion fatigue" or "secondary trauma," but I can clearly understand how significant self-care is in trying to prevent these emotional and physical reactions from happening, not just for the sake of our mental health, but also so that we can continue to support and advocate our students and clients to the best of our abilities.

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Self-care is a crucial aspect of the helping profession because without it we are not providing our students with our best selves and supporting and advocating for them the way we should be. Practicing self-care ensures we are emotionally stable and able to provide quality support that has a greater opportunity for successful client outcomes, and also ensures we are adhering to ethical responsibilities and expectations so that we can maintain professional competence.

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Some strategies that I practice regularly are reading and spending time with my family and my horses. Reading give me an opportunity to take a mental break and is a great way to focus on something else. Another strategy that I practice is spending time with my horses, whether I am riding them, or working them, or brushing them. They relax me and focus my attention on something else. Finally, I spend a lot of time with my family, whether I am watching a game with my boys, or working on a puzzle with my mom, or working on a home improvement project with my dad and brother, spending time with my family centers me and grounds me. Whether I am reading or spending time with my family or my horses, I am able to escape for a while and disconnect from everyday distractions.