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My biggest "take away" from the resources in this unit is that self-care must be an intentional, daily practice for it to effectively reduce stress and improve a counselor's overall well-being.

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Although I have been told about the importance of self-care since my first counseling course in 2020, the comment about securing your own oxygen mask before those of others really resonated with me. We cannot be emotionally available to help our clients at our best ability if we are struggling with compassion fatigue and burnout.

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One of the best self-care strategies I can use is getting enough sleep. As an elementary school counselor and much to my dismay, our doors open at 7:05 am for students. I am one of those people that need 9-10 hours of sleep a night to feel rested. I should intentionally spend time with my family early in the evening so I can go to bed early, at a time that will give me the necessary sleep. Without enough sleep, I find I have reduced patience and do not eat as nutritionally.

Another self-care strategy that I can increase doing is reading for pleasure. I read every few days for about twenty minutes as I dry my hair, but I can choose to read in the evenings instead of scrolling mindlessly on my phone.

A self-care strategy that I would like to implement is cleaning up my desk and office every day before I leave the office for home. I feel that reducing clutter would decrease my stress level, especially returning to an organized office first thing each morning.