Mental Health and Self-Care by Yesenia Ramos

Professional "Take Away"

yramos6_1 — 2024-10-26 21:17:19 UTC

A big take away from the resources that I have read about burnout and compassionate fatigue is that it can happen many times due to lack of boundaries, taking on too much responsibility, and not self-reflecting on how to care for yourself physically and emotionally. Counselors constantly deal with many different crises on a daily basis over a long period of time, this usually requires long interventions on top of the many other duties and can take a huge toll on counselors' well-being.

Importance of Self-Care

yramos6_1 — 2024-10-26 21:27:45 UTC

I always think about self-care in the helping profession as counselors needing to put on their own oxygen mask before helping another with their oxygen mask. I feel that we naturally are always wanting to help others but forget to help ourselves. We should self-reflect and prioritize ourselves so that we can be healthy and mentally well in order to be the best counselors for our students.

Personal Self-Care Strategies- #1

yramos6_1 — 2024-10-26 21:39:56 UTC

I have started implementing a couple of strategies for self-care when I started my school counseling job this school year and I feel they have helped me so far. My first one is to prioritize my family time and put them first. I never work at home or respond to my emails until I get back to school on Monday morning. This has helped me balance my work-life schedule and be fully present when I go home to my family. I know that everything will be there when I get back and I can spend work hours doing all the tasks.

Personal Self-Care Strategies- #2

yramos6_1 — 2024-10-26 21:42:56 UTC

My second strategy is that I set break times and have a set time for lunch every day, this has help me not become overwhelmed and stressed during the school day. My school days are long and having this fixed in time for myself refreshes my mental load.