Self-Care Padlet - Logan Alves - EDG 6320 by Logan Alves

Professional Take-Away

LoganAlves — 2025-03-30 22:11:00 UTC

An important takeaway from this module's resources is that we should try and tune into our bodies to find our level of distress. I believe this comes with a strong sense of mind-body connection and can lead us to recognize signs of burnout and compassion fatigue before they deeply affect us. It's fascinating to believe that our bodies give us cues that we must be cognizant of. Learning our cues can help us to intervene sooner to better ourselves.

Importance of Self-Care Reflection

LoganAlves — 2025-03-30 22:12:21 UTC

Another important takeaway from this module's resources is that self-care is not just something that one should take part in but something that a counselor must ethically take part in. Not doing so is an infraction of the ACA Counseling Ethics. This emphasizes the importance of engaging in self-care, as ethically you are bound to take care of yourself as a counselor in order to effectively assist others. Seeing that this was outlined in counselor ethics was an eye-opener for me, since self-care is primarily seen as something "extra" to do for oneself, but this is vastly different in the counseling field.

Personal Self-Care Strategies

LoganAlves — 2025-03-30 22:13:43 UTC

I think what would benefit me as an aspiring counselor would be to recognize the effects that stress has on my body so that I can intervene before I find it consumes me. I usually recognize signs of stress as an extremely tense neck/shoulders/upper back. If I am not able to help myself, my body usually feels more run down, and I end up getting physically sick.

I'd like to do a few things to help myself with my self-care:

I will monitor how my body feels each day and the levels of stress I am currently facing.
I will take action when I recognize warning signs, like tense body aches and muscle cramps.
- Actions can be anything from physical actions (a hot bath, a massage/spa day, a visit to the chiropractor), or socioemotional, like taking something off my mental load.

What Does MY Self-Care Look Like?

LoganAlves — 2025-03-30 22:18:51 UTC

My self-care looks like this. Just taking an opportunity to unwind and relax, like (ideally) getting a massage or manual movements to release the tension and stress, since I hold a lot in my body.